Sparkling Fire and Smokey Sighs
by SapphicVixen
Summary: WINNER of the 2014 Fannie Award for Best Romance! - Kim has just graduated, but her next mission forces her to make a horrible choice to either become a villain herself... or let her arch-foe die. Now Kim must decide between doing what is right or what is good. And the only ally she has left is Shego herself.
1. And Here Choose I

**Chapter 1 - And Here Choose I**

...

**_A/N_**_: Lemmie be honest here?_

_As much as I love my stories being read, I'll go ahead and possibly shoot myself in the foot by telling you that this story isn't my best writing by a long shot. It meanders all over the place, the tone changes rapidly and without reason, and things happen because I was playing around and thought an idea might be cool. If you want the full story (and better writing) check out the Author's Note at the bottom of the first chapter of my other story, _More Light, More Dark.

_Still here, h-uh? Well, if you want to go on, don't say I didn't warn you. I hope you enjoy._

...

Kim leaned back into her car seat and took a deep breath. The air was still tinged with the smell of smoke and torn earth, but as the car climbed higher, the breeze washed away more of the scent of battle.

"Sooo," Ron said, "Bueno Nacho?"

"Ron," Kim said, "the Bueno Nacho was destroyed? And didn't you just eat at the beach party?"

Beside her, Ron sniffled and spoke in a quiet, squeaky whisper. "Please don't say such horrible things. Three times in less than a year! Do supervillains have no _decency_?!"

"Riiiight." Kim rolled her eyes, smirked, and propped an arm on the door. A tilt of the wheel, and the car leaned left, giving her a clear view of the earth speeding below them. The ground was littered with patches of fire, smoking craters and still sparking war drones. Many of the enormous four-legged drones had military salvage crews around them, or were taped off by the local police.

"I think trying to find an intact and _open_ Bueno Nacho on post-invasion Earth might be just a bit tricky." Kim looked back to Ron. "But anything is possible for a Possible."

"Alright!" Ron said. "That's the positive attitude I love! Victory nacos all around!"

Kim smirked and gave a little roll of her eyes. She had left the beach party to be with Ron alone in private, but Ron _did_ just singlehandedly defeat an alien invasion. From Ron's pocket, Rufus poked his head out and squeaked excitedly. Over the years, Kim had come to understand this as Rufus' "naco" dance.

It had been just that morning that the Lowardians were defeated, and she still hadn't come down completely from her chemical high. Add in the rushed graduation, the world leaders meet that Drakken attended - that she had politely declined - and then a massive beach party that Ron and her had been shoved into and had escaped not 10 minutes ago; did anyone just stop to breathe before kicking it into overdrive?

She was about to ask Ron if they could just sit and relax for a minute when Wade popped up on her screen.

Kim inwardly groaned, but decided to play coy. "How's the party, Wade?"

"What?" Wade looked confused for a moment, then looked back to the beach behind him. "Oh, it's fine, but that's not why I'm calling."

Ron thunked his head into the dashboard. "Oh, don't supervillains take a day off when the world is saved from an alien invasion by a couple teenagers?!" From the dashboard, Rufus seemed to heartily agree.

Kim sighed, then covered her face in a mask of confidence. "What's the sitch, Wade?"

"You remember that world leader conference in Upperton?" Wade said. "Well, it's about Shego."

**-o0O0o-**

"What do you mean, 'I'm not allowed in'?" Kim said. "Okay. I usually don't play this card, but do you know who I am?"

"Sorry," the US military guard said. "No one's allowed in to see the prisoner."

"But Shego didn't _do_ anything!" Kim said. "She was with me the entire time. She helped _stop_ the Lowardians!"

"Not my job to question orders, ma'am."

"But-!"

The door behind the guard open with a hiss. An extremely bulky man stepped out and put a hand on the guard's shoulder. "That's quite enough, Jake."

"Lieutenant general," Kim said without preamble, eying the stars on the bulky man's shoulders, "you've got the wrong woman."

The general gestured to the hall behind him. "Why don't we discuss this inside?"

He led Kim and Ron back to his office where they all sat down. The general offered a bowl of pretzels sitting on the desk which Ron wasted no time in setting on his lap. Rufus promptly dove in.

The general's eye twitched, but he turned back to Kim. "Miss Possible, I'm General Stonewall and the woman known as Shego is not being held accountable for any part of her actions in the battle with the Lowardians."

Kim tensed. "Then why are you holding her? The pardon is still in effect, isn't it?"

"Yeah," Ron said between a mouthful of pretzels. "It applies to Shego too, doesn't it?"

Stonewall leaned forward in his chair and laced his fingers together. "Let me explain. After the conference, most of the supervillains that had been granted temporary immunity were in the lunch room set aside for them. Senior Senor Junior had since left to attend your beach party. This story checks out, according to several eye-witnesses, including one 'Bonnie Rockwaller'."

"But there's something else," Kim said. "Someone who wasn't there."

The general nodded.

"Shortly after Senior Senor Junior left the talks, Shego attacked the delegation of world leaders in the next room."

Kim blinked.

"That's impossible," she said, "Shego is... she's-"

"A criminal?" Ron said. _"Evil_?"

Kim glared and Ron went back to his pretzels.

"General," Kim said, "surely you have proof of this attack?"

The general glared. "The word of the world's finest leaders and thinkers isn't enough for you, Miss Possible?"

"Well, no, I -"

"Then you're calling our leaders, including the president, liars?"

"No I -"

"Then which is it, Miss Possible?"

Kim scowled and pressed her lips together. "If they're able to talk," Kim said, "then was anyone seriously injured? Any fatalities?"

"Several burns and cuts, but nothing life threatening," the general said, "we put her down pretty quickly."

Kim's blood seemed to freeze over her heart. "Put... down?" she said.

"No way!" Ron said. "Shego could take army guys with both arms tied behind her back." Then, at the general's glare, "Uh, sir." Ron shoved several pretzels into his mouth at once and tried to smile.

"She was captured," the general said. His glare didn't waiver.

"But she escaped," Kim said.

The general looked surprised. "How did you know?"

"Lucky guess," Kim said with a grin. Her heart seemed to be working again. Shego may have been an enemy, but she did help out an awful lot during the invasion, even if it was partly just to save Drakken.

The general nodded. "We're detaining Drakken and the other villains for now, but they all deny involvement, of course. Drakken in particular seemed rather... hm... _depressed_ at Shego's betrayal. She took one of the high speed jets and was last seen heading towards South America by one of our bases that we still have contact with. You've helped us out several times before, Miss Possible, and we know you have a history with Shego. With our satellite systems and the majority of our radar down, we'd like you to go after her."

Kim's mind went instantly into mission mode. "I'll leave right now, general."

Ron hugged the large bowl of pretzels to his chest. "You think I can get a to-go baggie?"

**-o0O0o-**

"It doesn't make any sense, Ron," Kim said.

"I know!" Ron said as he waved the small white paper box in front of her. "The military obviously can't afford to-go baggies and had to settle for takeout boxes." He popped another pretzel into his mouth.

"I think those are more expensive," Kim said, "but I was talking about Shego."

"Ooooh. KP, Shego's _evil_. Just because Drakken might have changed doesn't mean she will! I mean, _hello_, she attacked us even when you had your memory wiped!"

"Uh, she attacked _you,_ Ron," Kim said, "and she let you get away. She did nothing to me even though she had plenty of opportunity during that fight."

She tilted the car to the side and saw the Panama Canal pass below.

"Besides, that's not the point," she said. "There's no reason for her to attack the world leaders if she didn't have anything to gain from it."

"Maybe it's one of Drakken's crazy plans," Ron said.

"Maybe..." Kim said.

"Face it, Kim," Ron said. "Shego's a bad egg."

"'A bad egg'?" Kim said with a lopsided smirk.

"A rotten apple. A black sheep. A cheese-less naco!"

"I get the picture, Ron."

"Point is, KP, you can't trust her."

"I know, Ron."

**-o0O0o-**

Wade appeared on the console screen as they were flying over Southern Brazil.

"Any visual on Shego yet, Wade?" Kim said.

"Not yet," Wade said. "But I managed to hook some of the phone lines through the twins' satellite and I can patch you through to the general. He said he had an update for you."

"Please and thank you," Kim said.

Wade's image winked out and was replaced by audio visualization bars that jumped when the voice talked.

"Kim Possible."

"Yes, General?" Kim said to the jumping bars on the screen.

"Shego was seen abandoning our jet several hours ago and was last seen heading across the Atlantic towards South Africa on a cargo boat. I apologize, but we are only just now getting these reports. At your speeds, you should be able to catch her before she reaches the mainland."

"Thank you, General."

The screen winked out.

"This is so the drama," Kim said, then pressed a button on the console. "Wade, can you give me a fix on Shego?"

"Working on it," Wade said. "I hacked into a few satellites that are still working, but it's patchy. I might lose contact with you over the Atlantic."

"No choice," Kim said. "Whatever Shego's up to, it's not something that can wait. But... I don't know, Wade. Something's up. This entire thing is too weird."

"Shego being Shego is weird now?" Wade said.

"It is when she has no reason to be," Kim said. "Can you get into the military records at that base we were just at?"

Wade scratched his cheek. "I'll try, Kim, but if the connection's been cut, it's a closed system. Remote access won't work."

"Just try," Kim said.

Wade nodded. "I'll keep you posted." The screen winked out and Kim turned from southern Brazil towards the east and across the sea.

**-o0O0o-**

"So you're really scared, Kim?"

The flight across the Atlantic was both uneventful and quiet. Ron had taken to a nap, and Kim had felt compelled to cuddle beside him, but couldn't with the car in flight. She'd yet to sleep for over two days already, and it was starting to wear her down. Still, she was alert as ever, and her response times seemed to be nearly at the top of their game. She wasn't sure how much longer that would last, though.

"Scared?" Kim said.

"Yeah, you said you were scared too," Ron said, "during the invasion."

Kim nodded slowly, not taking her eyes off the dash as she watched the numbers that indicated her position tick by.

"I am scared," Kim said. "Scared of... the future. What might happen. What might not. You're not the only one who's scared, Ron, but we'll face it together, like we always do."

She looked over and spared him a strained smile, then went back to the instruments.

"It's just so hard to imagine you scared, KP," Ron said.

"I'm always scared of things," Kim said. "Especially on missions. But I can't let that change anything, Ron. I can't let fear control me or influence me. I just have to be... me. I'm scared right now, even."

Ron slumped over the middle console and dug around behind their seats. He pulled out an unopened bag of Tasty's Tantalizing Tortilla Chips. "Why are you scared right now?"

Kim bit her lip. "Because... because something isn't right. This doesn't add up."

"Uh -"

Kim raised a hand to cut him off. "I know, I know," she said. "'It's Shego'."

Ron brought a chip to his lips and then put it back down. Ron not eating was never a good sign. Rufus, however, took his opportunity and dove into the bag. "KP, why are you defending -"

"Kim!" The console blared to life in a wave of static, replaced with the rolling image of Wade. "Kim, can you read me?!"

"Wade?! We're here! What's the sitch?"

"Kim," Wade said again as the screen started to refocus. "Shego's not in South Africa!"

"What?"

"Of course she is!" Ron said. "Or... somewhere in Africa, right?"

"No!" Wade said. "I had to move the twins' spy satellite to contact you. See, as soon as you entered the dead zone where I couldn't contact you, I got word through the tap in the military com channels I managed to piggyback on."

"You rock, Wade," Kim said. "But wait. If Shego's not in South Africa, where is she?"

"She's back in the facility you were at, Kim," Wade said. "That's why I'm calling you."

"Why would the general lie?" Ron said, but in a way that said he believed Wade without question.

"Wade," Kim said warningly as she realized he had a pained look on his face, "what else did you hear?"

Wade flinched. "Well.. Kim... Shego... they're... they're going to execute her, Kim."

Before another word could be uttered, Kim turned the car so hard to port, the car flipped over, while Ron screamed beside her in his seat. Or rather, from the back seat; he wasn't wearing a seatbelt and was flung to the roof and then the backseat. The car sped steadily north, and Kim kicked on the afterburners for good measure.

"It's no good, Kim," Wade said.

Kim grit her teeth. "What do you mean?"

"Her execution is set for an hour," Wade said. His voice was quiet, morose. "It seems like they wanted to get it done before you were in contact range again."

Kim almost spat; no way she could make that time from the southern Atlantic. "Wade," Kim said. Her jaw was starting to hurt and she consciously tried to loosen it. "Get me the general. And try to reach the twins, too."

"The twins?" Wade said. Then, after Kim sent him a glare, "right! The twins! I'll try."

"Don't try," Kim said. "Just do it."

Wade's fingers went to work on the keyboard. In the background, she could hear the familiar ringtone of a Kimmunicator; the twins still had their models that they used to control their spy satellite. The sound of disconnected phone screeches and "not in service" messages joined the chorus; Wade must have been calling her parents too.

From the backseat, Ron's yelps were muffled by carpet and tossed trash.

"Ron," Kim said.

Rufus was pulling at one of Ron's ankles. After a moment of futile struggle from the mole rat, Ron wiggled and managed to free himself. He sat back in the passenger side chair and strapped in.

"Never fly without a seatbelt, KP. Not. Pleasant."

Kim didn't smile. In fact, her lips were little more than a thin, stern, white line.

"KP?" Ron said. "What's the big deal? I mean, yeah, executions are bad, but if she attacked world leaders at the conference -"

"Wade," Kim said, "get me whoever you can above the general while you're at it."

Wade just nodded.

Ron threw his hands in front of him. "And constantly trying to kill you -"

"Try my parents' workplaces, too," Kim said. "They might have gone there to help cleanup."

Wade gave her a look, but he typed away dutifully. "They've been trying to reach the delegation at the conference, actually, but I'll try to reach them."

"KP?" Ron said.

"I got the general," Wade said.

"Miss Possible," General Stonewall's voice said through several crackles. A small phone icon appeared over Wade instead of the audio visualizer this time.

"General," Kim said. She decided to not waste time on pretense and threw caution to the wind. "What's the meaning of this? Why are you executing Shego and so quickly?"

The line was filled with static for a moment.

"Shego," Stonewall said, "was given a fair military tribunal to determine her guilt in the crimes already described to you. Besides these, she's wanted in over 13 countries worldwide and with several outstanding warrants in each. It was determined that execution was the only recourse we had left."

"But the pardon!" Kim said desperately. "And so soon -"

"Shego waived her right to a pardon as soon as she attacked government officials, Miss Possible," Stonewall said. "And after some rowdy behavior, we decided it was best to speed the process up a bit -"

"Which has nothing to do with the fact I'm halfway around the world," Kim spat.

"We couldn't take the risk of you interfering," Stonewall said. "Even if it is a military decision, we couldn't be sure what you would do in this situation, so we eliminated you as a factor. I'm sorry that the scheduling didn't work out entirely in our favor, but -"

"You. Monster," Kim said. "You can't just execute people like this! She helped saved the world!"

"She attacked -"

"That's what you said!" Kim snapped. "Haven't you ever heard of post-traumatic stress, General?"

"I'm afraid the execution will take place as planned, Miss Possible. Good-bye."

A dial tone filled the speakers and Wade cut it off.

"That was productive," he said, still typing. "Still trying to reach your brothers. The phone lines seem to be cut, though. Probably in the Lowardian attack. Still trying their Kimmunicators, though."

"KP...?" Ron said again, very quietly this time.

"Yes, Ron?" Kim said. She felt as if a vein in her neck was going to explode.

"Why are you - I mean - it's just... Shego."

"Just Shego? _Just_ Shego?!" Kim's nostril's flared. "Shego, who saved us on more than one occasion? Shego, who just saved the entire world?"

"Shego, who betrayed us each time she helped, Kim!" Ron said. "She's just going three-for-three!"

Kim fumed. "And if she dies, it's my fault."

"What?" Ron said. "KP, that doesn't even make any sense."

"I'm the one who said she should go along to that world meeting," Kim said. "I though she and Drakken could... you know -"

"Okay, woah," Ron said, "let me stop you right there, KP. I do not need to be thinking about Shego and Drakken!" He shuddered. "Drakken is way too old for her, anyway. Shego's old, but not _that_ old."

Kim blinked. "Huh. You think?" Kim said. "Wait. Ron! Focus!"

"I am focused!"

"Ron, I'm serious -"

"Hicka-bicka-boo?" Jim said sleepily.

"You tweebs!" Kim said. "Where have you been?!"

"Sleeping?" Tim said. "It's barely morning, here."

"I need your help," Kim said.

The twins looked at each other.

"What do you need?" they said together.

Kim was too flustered to find the twin-speak thing freaky.

"I need you two to get me to Middleton in less than an hour."

"Where are you?"

"The middle of the Atlantic," Kim said miserably.

"I'm sending them your coordinates Kim," Wade said.

The twins whistled, then looked at each other again.

"But it's experimental," Tim said.

"Hasn't been tested," Jim said.

"Cool," they said together.

Kim rubbed her forehead. "Tweebs..."

"Alright, alright! Don't burst a vein."

"Do you have those wrist communicators? And any of the older models?"

Ron opened the glove box and pulled out two wrist communicators and a couple older ones. One of the screens was broken. There was also a skinnier Kimmunicator as well. It looked like the twin's thinner models, but the black and yellow paneling that served as grips had been switched out for a sleek black with purple piping on the edges.

"Oh, that's your graduation gift," Tim said. "We figured you could use some upgrades."

"But it uses a pentlithium power cell," Jim said, "not a trilithium one. You can't use it to charge the booster."

"Don't worry about that," Jim said. "Open the console in the middle and plug them all into the ports, except for the new one. It should hopefully give you enough extra power to make the upgrades we made work."

"Hopefully?" Ron said.

"Upgrades?" Kim said. "Booster?"

Another twin glance.

"We were working on your car," Jim said. "Installing a new, high-hypersonic system. Still experimental."

"We were going to start testing next week!" Tim said.

Kim pushed aside the slew of questions she had about that in favor of a single one.

"How do I get it to work?" she said.

"Just enter an access code in the console to activate the feature," Tim said.

"The code is Alpha-Alpha-3-0-5," Jim said.

Ron peered at the console. "Yeah, I don't see any Greek letters on here."

"It's the phonetic alphabet, Ron," Kim said as she punched in the keys.

"Oh!" Ron said. "I knew that. Heh heh..."

A new short screen slid out of the console and folded forward. A percentage was shown that started to tick up along with a bar.

"The system needs to be charged before it can be used," Tim said.

"You're going to be traveling at near reentry speeds, so you'll have to slow down before you reach Middleton," Jim said. "If you don't fry to a crisp first."

"Tweebs..." Kim said.

"Hey, it's not our fault!"

"We didn't have time to test it! We think the car's cooling system should be able to take the heat, though. Might want to go into a low orbit, just to be safe."

Kim nodded, but kept the car steady.

"Thanks tweebs," Kim said. "I owe you guys one. A big one."

Kim cut the feed as they were grinning at each other.

"Wade," Kim said, "are you sure these are actual military guys?"

"Yeah, I even ran a DNA analysis on several of them, _including_ the president! It's definitely them."

"DNA? How did you get -"

"You remember Professor Acari and his tick drone?" Wade said. "Mosquito drones."

"Ah," Kim said. "But how did you get the blood samples in time to test them? Or even have something to compare them to?"

"Don't ask," Wade said. "So what are you going to do?"

"Yeah, KP, what are we going to do?"

Kim stared at the wheel in front of her.

"I don't know," Kim finally said.

"Your mom talked to the president while you were talking with the twins," Wade said. "Several researchers who knew of her even backed her up, but he insisted that this was the right course of action after such an attack. Kim, I don't see how you can stop this. Not with words."

"Then I won't use words," Kim said.

"That's a _military_ installation," Wade said, "not a supervillain lair. You can't just go charging in; they're the good guys here."

"Not from where I'm sitting," Kim said. "Wade, you don't have to help me, but I'm asking you; do you have plans or anything that can help me?"

For a few, agonizing seconds, Wade didn't answer and simply looked down at his screen. Then he typed and his image was replaced with blueprints.

"The facility is locked down tight," Wade said. "Reinforced walls, laser grids, card keys at every door. Even the _bathrooms_ are carded on _each side_. And if these shipping logs I snagged while I was in the system are correct, they recently acquired several plasma resistant restraints."

"Then this was planned ahead of time," Kim said. The counter for the booster system read 50%.

"Not necessarily," Wade said. "They could have had this facility to hold Shego without this being their specific time and place goal. Besides, who could have predicted that the Lowardians would attack?"

Kim bit her lip and reluctantly agreed. But something still didn't feel right to her.

"There's no way to sneak in," Wade said, "not even for you. At least, not in time to save Shego." Wade pulled up full schematics with the traps and security system laid out, then overlaid it with the guards. Kim hated to admit it, but he was right; she could do it, but not in less than an hour. And she still had to get across an ocean to get to the base. Even if she manged to snag a keycard off one guard, the plans made it clear that only the highest ranks would have access to the inner rooms where a dot labeled "Shego" blinked.

"Can you hack the keycard system?" Kim said.

"No guarantee until you're there," Wade said. "It's a closed system, so you'd have to use the Kimmunicator to give me access."

Kim chewed her lip. "Please give me some other way to get in. Maybe if we talked to some of the other world leaders -"

Wade's eyes drooped. "No can do, Kim. Like I said before, your parents have been trying for the last several hours, ever since you went into the dead zone and we found out about this. No one is budging."

Kim bowed her head. She tried to approach the situation from another angle, a different tactic, but nothing came to her. Maybe...

"Can we get any of the big villains on board?" Kim said after a time. "Maybe Gemini and Dr. Dementor could team up to bust Shego out of there."

"That's the weird thing," Wade said. "I haven't been able to find any of them. They just... disappeared."

"Something is definitely up," Kim said.

"Agreed," Wade said, "but we don't know what. And in any case, it doesn't fit any of their usual M.O.'s to just kill Shego like this."

"Gemini might," Kim said.

"I don't see why he would, though," Wade said. "They've barely even met and using the government to do this doesn't fit Gemini. He's mostly just concerned with Dr. Director."

Kim ground her teeth. Oh yeah, her teeth were going to hurt later.

78% charged. Kim tipped the car and glanced out the window. "Ron, you know I love you right?"

"Of course, KP," Ron said "But I -" Kim hit the auto-pilot button, leaned over the console filled with Kimmunicators and gave him a desperate, forceful kiss. Ron was surprised, then closed his eyes and leaned into it.

That was when Kim shoved the new Kimmunicator into his pocket, along with Rufus, and hit the passenger eject button.

She jerked back and Ron's chair went flying through a momentary hole in the roof. A distant "KP!" could be heard and Kim looked in her mirror to watch the chair's signal flares fire in all directions, and the cruise ship she'd spotted below her was making its way in his general direction.

"Kim," Wade said after a moment. "I -"

"Sorry Wade," Kim said. "Try to erase everything you have. Don't keep any records, okay? I just... I can't let this happen. I have to do this."

"Kim!"

Then Kim smashed the screen with her fist and ripped out the speakers.

It was the best gift she could give her friends. If she was caught, hopefully this would give them enough plausible deniability to keep them out of the frying pan.

She crawled into the back seat and pulled down the rear panel for access to the trunk. The percentage ticked to 90%. Hopefully, what she wanted was in the trunk. She was going to need it.

**-o0O0o-**

The car shook violently. Kim was sweating like a mad woman as the car made its descent towards the facility. The secondary screen in the steering wheel gave her the transmitted GPS coordinates of the facility.

There was no way this could be government work. Wade must be wrong. He must.

But if he wasn't...

No. She couldn't think about that. She just had to get Shego out of there before they - before... anything happened.

And so her car hurtled downward, still slowing out of hypersonic speeds. A moment later, the intimidating compound of concrete and steel came into view. With the twin's new stealth coating, the car should be undetectable after she dropped below supersonic speeds... in theory. It seemed to work until the missiles started firing at her.

And here she had been hoping to talk. Kim pressed several buttons on the console. The car extended a small cannon and fired two lasers that quickly took out each of the SAM missile sites at the north and south end of the compound, along with all her missile-to-missile counter-measures. She silently thanked her father for making them. Another button press, and Kim hesitated. Then she pressed the final button and missiles flew out from under the car chassis and impacted the side of the reinforced building. A bit of antimatter - also care of her father and "borrowed" by the twins before Kim knew about it - and most of the material was vaporized rather than exploded as shrapnel.

Then Kim rammed the car straight through the hole she had made.

Shego was in the center of the building on the lowest level. It made sense, if you wanted to protect her above everything else. Kim cut away at the steel and concrete with her forward lasers and dug deeper in the facility. Then she'd hit the reinforced panic room at the very center, with the car's front shoved awkwardly through a wall and into a hallway.

Kim hit the auto-defense button and leapt out of the car.

Several guards were waiting for her just around the corner.

"Kimberly Ann Possible," a voice spoke. It was General Stonewall. "Surrender yourself at once to the US military and you will not be harmed."

"No thanks," Kim said, then leapt into the group. Her battle suit knocked goons aside easily and the few that got a chance to fight back went down quickly. The General himself retreated from the battle and ran down the hall.

Kim used the suit's new expanding shield to shove the men to either side of the hallway. The hallway clear, she ran to the door that held Shego and pulled several corrosive "explosives" from her pouch and set them around the door.

"I'm usually the one disarming these," Kim murmured as she activated the charges. 3 seconds.

She ran to the side, and the charges went off, melting the key points around the door. A swift yank sent the door teetered forward. And there, shackled in cuffs that were obviously made specifically for her... was Shego.

"Dr. D!" Shego said, her back turned to the door. "About time you showed up! I was starting to get worried."

Kim walked slowly forward, her mind trying to come to terms with what she was doing.

"Dr. D?" Shego said.

Then Kim walked into view as Shego turned a bit to face her.

"_Princess_?" Shego said.

"Don't be too incredulous or I might leave you here," Kim said then ran forward and started entering the long code she'd memorized to release the locks. Wade had manged to snag it off the com channels and sent it with the blueprints.

Shego laughed. "Alright, where's Dr. D?" Shego said. "He's mind controlling you, right?

The last number entered, the locks released with a minor beep. "Thank you, Wade!"

Shego rubbed a wrist and stared. "Nerd Linger? But -"

"You going to just keep asking questions or do you want to get out of here?" Kim said.

"Where's the rest of your little rescue party?"

"Just me," Kim whispered as she checked the hall and stepped into it. She waved for Shego to follow. "Come on."

"Okay, yeah, this is too weird," Shego said.

"Do you want to stay here?!" Kim whispered.

"Yeah, see, the whispering? Kind of redundant."

Kim groaned, ground her teeth, and stepped out of the doorway, back towards her car. She was gratified when Shego stepped into line behind her.

Then there were at least 50 men and General Stonewall himself blocking their path to the car. Kim smirked as she saw a few guards in the rear trying to get near her car and being zapped for their trouble.

Then the guards opened fire.

Kim's shield came up instantly, and the shots ricocheted wildly into the hall around her.

"That's far enough, Possible," General Stonewall said. "Surrender, and this won't have to get ugly."

"You know," Shego said as she stepped up beside Kim, "you have _got_ to love the hospitality. Really makes you feel wanted. Your suites could use better drapes though."

"Sorry General," Kim said, "but I need you to move now."

Then, as one, Kim and Shego dove into the crowd. Kim was already tired and Shego was moving sluggishly as well, but the guns the guards were carrying weren't effective in close quarters. Not without injuring their own. General Stonewall, however, had some kind of taser resting in the middle of his palm, which he managed to slip under Kim's guard. Kim' s body convulsed.

"Kimmie!"

A green blast and Stonewall was blasted through one of the reinforced walls. Kim felt woozy as Shego slung one of Kim's arms over her shoulder, but Kim quickly tried to recover her bearings. She needed to get out of there.

"The car," she said. Shego obliged, and they ran down the hall, dodging the men who were still standing. When they reached the car, Kim had a chilling thought. "Oh no."

An electrical zap singed the wall where Shego had just been.

"The defense system," Kim groaned.

"Not a problem," Shego said. She bounded with Kim still wobbly, dodging the car's defenses until she was within a few feet and unceremoniously threw Kim at it.

Kim groaned as her face smacked into the glass, which she tapped twice with a finger, rolling it down. She hit the defenses button to turn off the system and crawled inside the cab.

"Come on!" she said.

Shego leaped through the window and started blasting at the guards who were closing in. Kim threw the car into reverse and backed out of the building at high speed, collapsing several roofs along her path.

Then they were free of the building just in time for the missile lock alarm to start beeping.

"Oh that is so wrongsick!" Kim said.

Shego glanced over at the missile lock icon, hit the convertible button on the roof, and said, "got it."

"You can't be serious," Kim said. "It's a fast moving, tiny -"

A green blast of energy fired from both her hands; a few seconds later, a shock wave rocked the car.

Kim quickly turned back around - "okay, you're serious" - and started flipping dials for a quick getaway. "Strap in or something!" Kim slid the roof closed and another missile lock alarm started beeping. She laid on the throttle and the car kicked it back into over-drive, slipping into the supersonic speeds she used to get to Brazil. Another button, and the back of the car fired flares... then the beeping stopped, and the "missile lock" light winked out.

That was it. They were free. And on the run.

"Now," Shego said, "do you mind explaining to me why Miss Priss just wiped the floor with a bunch of government stiffs to rescue me?"

...

**_A/N_**_: Whew! That's a long chapter - and this is a long author note - but I wanted to get this first chapter out of the way and not leave you hanging wondering what the full setup was going to be. Hopefully, there's still some people who like and read Kigo around here. If not... oh, who am I kidding? I'm going to keep writing this anyway._

_I know this gets said a lot around here but I _**_AM_*** going to finish this. But it's going to take awhile because I like longer fics, as well as slow-burn romance. So hold onto your butts! It's coming!*

**_My intent_*** here is to give a story that treats the whole Kigo dynamic in character (as I see it) and stays true to the spirit of the original show. Now, obviously an execution isn't exactly Disney Channel material, but I also want to update the mythos, not just do reruns. It's about balance. We'll get farther away from the original material as we go along, I think, but I never cared (as much) for those fics that go WAY overboard with the dark stuff. We'll see what happens.*

_Anyway, enough of my rambling. I'll be updating once a week. Enjoy (hopefully) and let me know what you think. Like most authors here, _**_I run on reviews_**_._

_Beta-Read By: 2d66, Morzan's Elvish Daughter_

_Disclaimer: This is a lawful transformative work/parody pursuant to Suntrust v. Houghton Mifflin Co. The author makes no money from this work and never will attempt to do so (and she doesn't have any anyway.) © 2014 SapphicVixen. _**_Sparkling Fire and Smokey Sighs may not be reproduced or republished_**_, in whole or in part, without the author's permission. Not authorized by The Walt Disney Company, and no sponsorship or endorsement by The Walt Disney Company is implied._

_This, my friends, is a work of love._


	2. Joy Be the Consequence

**Chapter 2 - Joy Be the Consequence**

* * *

Kim scanned the console and tried to please the little red lights that were blinking and beeping all over the display, but when one went out, another took its place. The surface of the car had long since cooled, but it was scorched black all over. Pieces of it were flaking off. And still more beeping. They'd been flying for about an hour, and Kim's brain seemed to have stopped working, so she'd automatically taken the same flight path she'd come from. The land had been erased from the horizon, and instead, a starry sky bled into a glittering black ocean. And Shego was talking.

"Uh, Kimmie?" Shego said. "_Hellooo_?"

Kim shook her head. "What?"

"I asked where you're flying this tub. We're just passing Florida and the Bahamas are coming up. I was looking forward to a bit of sunbathing."

Kim's head jerked towards Shego. "Sunbathing?" she said. "Is that really what we need to be thinking about right now?"

"'We'?" Shego said. "What's this 'we' stuff? I helped you, you helped me. Now you can just drop me off in Miami and we'll call it even."

"'Even'?!" Kim said in a harsh whisper. Her throat seemed to be closing in on itself. "Do you have _any_ idea what I've just done?"

"Attacked a government installation and freed one of the most wanted supervillains in the world?"

Kim looked at her as if to say "_Yeah. That._"

Shego shrugged. "I didn't ask you to do it. I could have gotten out just fine on my own."

"Those shackles were plasma proof," Kim said. "How were you going to get out of that?"

"I'm sure they'd have to let me out of them at some point," Shego said. "And those walls weren't exactly what I'd call 'unmeltable'." She placed a finger under her lips. "You know, this brings us back to my original question about why you'd rescue me."

Kim was silent and grim-faced as she continued to work the controls.

Shego threw up her hands. "Okay, fine," she said. "Whatever. Just drop me off."

Kim dropped the car out of supersonic and tapped a light that was winking on and off. The car shook momentarily, as if in turbulence, as it reconfigured for subsonic speeds. "Shego, how in the world did you get caught?"

Shego furrowed her brow for just a second, then smirked and settled back into the minimalist seat that had popped up when the passenger seat was ejected. Meanwhile, Kim continuously pressed a single button in the hopes of getting another light to blink out.

"Is that jealousy there, Kimmie?" Shego said. "Envious someone else managed to do it besides you?"

"I am _not_ jealous," Kim said. Then pushed her tongue between her teeth to keep from biting down.

Shego laughed delightedly. Kim stared. She hadn't heard that high, squeaky laugh from her since her time as Ms. Go.

"You so are! You're jealous!"

"Ugh."

Shego lifted her hands palm down, as if trying to press an invisible box down unto her lap. "Okay, okay. What if I said it was just one person and they didn't have any gadgets on them at all?"

"Shego —"

"Oh man." Shego laughed again. "You make this too easy."

Kim said nothing. Her hand twiddled a knob above the broken center screen. She even slapped the knob when it didn't do what she wanted.

Shego sighed. "There were a lot of them and they caught me off guard. Drakken did his speech and the big wigs decided having lunch sounded like a good idea. I went off to pull bits of vine out of my dress — Don't!" She cut off Kim who had open her mouth with a dubious look on her face. "Don't even ask. Let's just say that Dr. D's little vines have a mind of their own." She shuddered.

Kim decided not to ask, but eyed the woman's dress, which, Kim just realized, was a plain green one that had probably once been quite pretty, but was now little more than rags. It was torn and burned in several places. A bit of vine was still attached to her waist.

"After Giantess the Conquer and her psycho boyfriend," Shego said, "the nerd conference, and the attentions of a neck vine, I was already ticked off. I go to cool off before I decide that flaying everyone in the building is an interesting idea when I'm ambushed."

"And you just happened to not notice them setting it up," Kim said.

"Uh-huh, yeah, Kimmie? Now is _quiet time_," Shego said. "You want to keep interrupting or do you want to hear the story?"

Kim lifted her hands off the wheel in an 'I give up' gesture and put them back.

"I was already ticked off and what I did notice, I figured was just because I was _in the middle of a government building_," Shego said. Kim dutifully kept her mouth shut. "I took down a bunch of them, but somebody got me with some kind of taser. Woke up like you saw me."

Kim remembered the palm taser that General Armstrong had. Her suit must have absorbed most of the shock if it was able to take Shego down.

"And you didn't do _anything_ to deserve that," Kim said sardonically.

"Hey, I wasn't that stupid!" Shego said. "My plan was to ride the wave of thanks until the first opportunity to get out of there presented itself, then go rob something while the world was still in chaos."

"The very picture of a model citizen," Kim said.

Shego shrugged. "It's what I know, _Princess_."

"Why should I believe you didn't do anything to prompt your little capture?" Kim said.

"Yeah, see, there's something I don't get," Shego said. "If you didn't know if I did anything or not, why did you come rescue me in the first place?"

Kim sighed. "I —"

There was a loud crack and the car lurched.

"What was that?" Kim said.

"You're asking me?!" Shego said.

For a moment, the car seemed to have nothing more wrong with it than a slight tilt. Then the car started to shake like a bucking bronco that was _very_ angry.

Shego braced herself with one hand on her seat and another pressing against the ceiling. "You going to fix this?!"

"I'm trying!"

Kim hit a button. Then another loud crack and the car pitched forward into a very fast dive.

"Woah! Pull up! Pull up!"

"_Trying_!"

Kim cut the jet engine in the trunk and fully extended the hover pads. Kim let out a long held breath as the car slowed, and even started to rise… but the front-end was still tilted completely down, towards the ocean.

Neither woman spoke. Then another loud crack was heard and Kim saw her tire and hover pad combo go wildly flying off before the power on it flickered out.

"Oh no," Kim said.

The car slowed to a stop. For a moment, they lifted out of their seats, as if in zero gravity. Then the final crack as the last pad broke off and Kim's stomach plunged into her throat.

"Not good!" Kim said.

The car twisted in the air, end over end, and Kim could barely keep track of the panel in front of her, but she had nothing left besides her rockets. And without the hubs stabilizing the car…

Kim abandoned the console, leaned towards Shego, undid her buckle, pried her off her seat and pulled her into her own lap.

"What are you —"

Kim didn't let her finish as right at that moment, the car was starting to upright. She uncapped and pushed the button on her seat. The roof blew backwards as straps wrapped themselves around Kim and they were launched into the air on a rocket-propelled seat.

A small parachute ejected from the seat while she held Shego tightly to her. In the split second afterward, Kim was yanked forward and most of the seat separated from Kim while another, larger parachute fired. Shego dipped below her and her legs dangled underneath.

"Hang onto me!" Kim said.

"I am!"

Shego pulled herself up and wrapped her legs tightly around Kim's waist. Too tightly; Kim could barely breathe.

Then there was another problem. The parachute wasn't made for two people and they fell faster than they should have been. Below them, the still lit car finally hit the ocean water and crumpled, though, oddly, it didn't explode. Kim, however, was desperately looking around for any signs of land or ships.

"There!" Shego said.

Kim twisted in the harness — and Shego's death grip — and saw it; a silver of land just to the southeast, marked by a few lonely lights. As they descended, the lights became more obscure until they disappeared over the horizon.

"I think I know where we are!" Shego said.

The wind still whistled in their ears from their all too fast descent. They hit the water and Kim released the parachute just before she was sent plunging underneath the surface. Shego had since released her and Kim swam up for the surface.

When she saw stars, she coughed and greedily sucked in air.

"Shego!"

Silence.

"_Shego_!"

She clicked on the light on her battle suit belt and dove back under the water, only to find Shego rushing past her. Kim turned back up and swam back to the surface.

Shego was sputtering but otherwise appeared fine.

"What _is_ that thing on your ass?" she said. "It looks horrible."

Yep. Definitely fine.

Kim unbuckled the bottom of the seat that had attached itself to her legs and fished in a wet pocket until her fingers curled around the drawstring loop. She pulled the string and something large and black explosively inflated itself above their heads. She shoved the black and purple monstrosity forward until it was floating beside them, then kicked up, pulled on the strap hanging on its side, and hauled herself into the lifeboat.

She turned to offer a hand to Shego, but the woman was already hauling herself in and ignored it.

So Kim flopped unto her back and passed out.

**-o0O0o-**

Seagulls. Why were there seagulls?

With effort, Kim managed to open her eyes. Then immediately shut them against the light of the sun.

"About time," a voice said. "We're almost there."

Kim opened her eyes again, slowly this time. The blue sky overhead was mostly clear and Kim heard the soft whine of a motor.

"How long was I out?" Kim said.

"A few hours," Shego said. She was in the rear — or what served as the rear on a round boat. Her hand was on a handle that controlled the tiny dual fan motor that was propelling the boat across the water.

Kim sat up, then kept going forward, putting her head between her knees. She just needed the world to stop spinning. "Why didn't you wake me up?"

"What am I, your nanny?" Shego said. "And before you ask, we're still in the Caribbean. We're almost to land, though. As soon as I'm off, you can go save the world or whatever it is you do now."

Kim looked up. "You're the captain of our little boat now, are you?"

"No, I'm the bitch with the engine in her hands and the plasma." Shego held up a glowing hand to emphasize the point. "So pipe down."

Kim raised an eyebrow but decided it would probably be best to not fight Shego on a small, inflatable raft. Instead, she went to the pouch hanging inside the boat made from the old seat cushion. Inside, she found a day's worth of emergency rations, a pouch of water, inflatable life jackets, fishing hooks and lines… and an emergency beacon. Kim pulled this last item out.

"Never thought I'd have to use one of these," Kim said.

"Woah!" Shego leapt forward — causing the boat to tip — snatched the beacon out of Kim's hands, threw it in the air, and destroyed it with a well-place energy shot.

Kim stared as the remains of the beacon scattered in the air rather spectacularly and peppered the sea with debris.

She rounded on Shego, who had returned to the motor control.

"Are you completely insane?!" Kim said.

"Are _you_?" Shego said with a belittling look. "Let's see, Princess, what did you just do only a few hours ago? Oh yes! Attack the 'good guys'." She scoffed. "I wonder who'd answer your little signal, hm?"

"Ugh!" Kim held her head tightly in her forearms and wrapped her hands in her hair. "This can't be happening. This isn't happening."

"Would you relax?" Shego said. "Look, we're here."

Kim looked up. Years of approaching small islands in the middle of the ocean usually denied her any feeling of novelty about the act… but there was something about this island. The ground in front was littered with signs, most of which were damaged beyond legibility, but one remained that read "BEWARE - HAUNTED" in big engraved letters, though the paint that once filled the engraving had long since been washed away.

"Shego is this —"

"Drakken's island lair in the Caribbean," Shego said. "In fact, I think this is the first place you kicked Dr. D's sorry backside."

Kim smiled. "And yours."

"That was the building exploding, Cupcake."

The boat pulled onto the sand and Shego immediately hopped out. She turned and gave a mock salute and wave. "Later, Princess!" Then she turned back around, and walked through the wreckage of metal sheets and broken signs. What Shego didn't seem to realize was that, between everything before and after her rescue, the thin dress was nearly in threads and the back left certain areas rather… exposed. Halfway between laughter and embarrassment, Kim covered her mouth as she watched Shego sashay and disappear into the rocks, leaving her alone in the boat.

Okay, take stock. Kim was on a life boat, in the Caribbean, with no GPS and no Kimmunicator — they were all now sitting in the bottom of the sea with rest of the Sloth. She had just attacked a government facility to free her long time foe. The likelihood of going back was — no, don't think about that. She had her battle suit, a bit of food and water, and a very slow lifeboat.

And nowhere else to go.

Maybe she could call… what was his name… Jerry. Surely saving those manatees was good for two boat rides, right? But she needed a way to contact him.

She sighed. She knew where this was going. Surely Shego wasn't just going to strand herself here. She had to have some type of plan. And that meant either transport, or a way to contact transport. She heaved the boat unto the beach and tied it to one of the palm trees. No use letting it go. It might still be her only way off the island.

She trudged up the sand and followed Shego's footprints until she turned a corner into a rocky overhang and found Shego typing buttons on a keypad. A scorched but smooth metallic door sat right next to the pad.

"Please don't tell me you're here to stop me," Shego said without looking in her direction. "I don't think irony could take it."

"I need a phone," Kim said.

Shego looked at her. "And you think _I_ have one?"

"I think you have some way off this island," Kim said.

Shego huffed. "I don't have anything if I can't — you know what?" Shego's fists flared into giant green balls of plasma. Kim jumped back into a fighting stance.

But Shego sent the blast into the door, which melted right in it's frame.

Kim lowered her guard just a bit. "Oh."

"Kimmie," Shego said, "if I was going to blast you, I'd have done it." Then she ducked into the newly formed "door."

Kim let her arms dangle at her sides and followed cautiously behind her, but Shego seemed content to ignore her. She swayed her hips happily into the old place until she reached another door. She didn't bother with the keypad this time and simply ignited her hands and started tearing into the door. The door came peeling away in strips.

"Why don't you just blast it?" Kim said.

"Because of this!" Shego held up a green and black harlequin-patterned body suit; her classic catsuit. "Can't char fashion!" Then she ducked around the corner of the melted door. Her removed dress flew by a second later.

Kim averted her eyes away from the empty door frame. "You came here for _clothes_?"

"Hey, hey!" Shego said as she stepped out and zipped the suit up along the green front panel. "This isn't about clothes. It's fashion. Did you see what I was wearing?"

Kim couldn't stop the color that flooded her face. Shego's own face went slack for just a moment then grew into a smirk.

"F-fashion?" Kim said before Shego could say anything. "You've been wearing that for years. It's not even yours! It's the Team Go uniform!"

Shego sneered. "Because the battle suit look is so in vogue."

"It's nearly the same thing you wear!"

Shego smirked and looked Kim up and down. "It has its charms."

Kim put her face in her hands. "Just tell me you have some way to get us off this rock."

"You keep using that word, kitten."

Kim snapped up and saw Shego slip back through the doorway. Kim hesitated, then followed after.

"Didn't I destroy this lair?" Kim said.

"Not the basement," Shego said. She shoved a broken piece of the ceiling to the side. "Mostly. And it was mostly Drakken's horrible wiring job that destroyed the main levels." She glanced behind her while she dug into a box. "You have a plan to get out of here, Kimmie?"

"What?" Kim said. "But I thought — You! You knew I'd follow you! You don't actually have a way off this island!"

"Well," Shego said. Kim could almost hear her smirking as she dug through dusty piles of junk. "I'm not _completely_ out of options, but I figured the girl scout would have a better option than I would."

"You're unbelievable."

"Here." Shego tossed Kim a phone with an overlarge antenna attached to the side. "Villophone. Secured and untraceable satellite phone for villains. Thing _actually_ still works and has a signal right now. Might want to get on our ride before some clouds come and ruin it or something."

"You keep using that word," Kim echoed with a raised eyebrow.

"Whatever," Shego said. "Dial zero if you don't know the number for who you want; the operators can get you most anyone."

Kim sighed. Who to call? She thought back through her adventures, and remembered someone who probably had both the means and the availability to give them a ride. She had to dial the operator. The woman on the end of the line gave her an odd sort of tone of voice when she dropped the name, but she had the number in seconds. Kim was patched right through.

The phone rang and was picked up a short time later by a woman's voice. Kim told her who she was looking for and was put on hold.

A short time later, a high, squeaky voice picked up. "I'm not sure how you got this number, but I hope it's important," the voice said into the phone. "I'm _quite_ busy right now, you know."

"Prince Wally!" Kim said. "It's so good to hear from you again."

"Kim Possible?" Prince Wallace the Third said into the phone. "The commoner from that quaint little American high school, correct?"

"Er, yeah," Kim said. "Listen, Wally, I could use a favor. You see, I kind of need a ride and —"

"Stop right there, Miss Possible," Wally said. "I'm afraid Rodigan can't be seen associating with underworld types and news does travel fast, as they say. I'm afraid I can't help you. Good-bye!"

Underworld types? "But —" Then there was a click and the line went dead.

Kim stared at the phone. For the first time, she was refused a ride. That had never happened before. She wished she had Wade; he'd know who'd be willing to give her a ride. But she didn't dare call him for fear of dragging him into the situation. This was her mess and she'd get herself out of it. Kim pressed the button for the phone's operator again and tried to think of someone to contact.

A bit of fumbling for words as the line was picked up, and a name came to Kim. The operator didn't even have to look up the number and patched her through immediately. The phone rang, which was a good sign; at least it wasn't disconnected.

"_¡Hola!_ Señor Senior, Junior speaking."

"Junior!" Kim said.

Shego jerked her head up from a television she had found and started working on — for some reason — and started to laugh.

Kim scowled and turned away from her.

"What is that laughing I hear?" Junior said.

"Nothing, nothing!" Kim said. "Listen, it's Kim Possible. I was wondering… could you do me a teenie, tiny, little favor?"

"Kim Possible," Junior said, "you brought my darling Bonnie into my life. Name your favor."

"I need you to pick us up," Kim said.

"'Us'? Who is this 'us'?"

Kim bit her lip. "Shego and me."

"Where should I be picking you up?"

"I think — hey Shego!" Shego, who was still wiping tears from her eyes, looked up. "Can we get to Havana from here?"

She shrugged. "Should be about a couple hours if a boat is still docked around here somewhere. Four if we have to use your little life raft."

"Pick us up in Havana, Junior," Kim said into the phone.

"It will be done!" Junior said. "Father and I were just about to leave America anyway. We may have to make a small detour to France, however. Your country's lack of Le Goop both frightens and horrifies me."

"Junior!" Kim said.

"Fine, fine," Junior said. "We will leave for our private jet and be there in 4 hours. Was there anything else? I am having to stand outside to talk to you and the sun is doing horrors to my skin without my lotion."

Kim opened her mouth to say no, but then thought of something. "There's one thing," she said slowly. "Wade tried to contact you last night. What happened, exactly?"

"Did he?" Junior said. "I do not know. My phone was in my car during the beach party. I could check my missed calls, if you like."

"No, that's okay," Kim said. "See you in a few hours, Junior. And don't say anything about this to anyone."

"My lips are sealed," Junior said. "Not actually sealed, mind you, but they will not utter any words about our conversation."

"Thanks," Kim said.

"You know what I don't get," Shego said as soon as Kim clicked the off button, "is how you're so unprepared for this."

Kim eyed her cautiously. "Unprepared for what?"

"For the whole villain thing," Shego said.

"I am _not _a villain!" Kim said.

"Then how do you explain me?" Shego said.

"There was something up," Kim said. "Something wasn't right."

"'Something was up'?" Shego said. "You just broke me out on a feeling?"

"It was more than that!" Kim said. "You were captured, which was weird enough, then they decide to execute you while I'm both away and within such a short amount of time? It didn't add up!"

"That's not exactly conclusive," Shego said. "Wait, they were going to execute me?"

Kim glared. "You could be more thankful."

Shego laughed. "So let me get this straight: as soon as you graduate, the great do-gooder of the decade decides to attack the military, one of her big good guys, and does so based entirely on a feeling?"

"No!"

"And yet," Shego said. "Here I am."

"That was —"

"Why'd you really do it, Kimmie?"

"I already told —"

"You told me reasoning," Shego said, "but didn't give me a real reason."

"Shego —"

"Why?"

"Because I wanted to, alright?!" Kim said. "I wasn't just going to sit on my hands and let you die, no matter they said you had done!"

Her voice echoed off the walls.

Shego grinned. "There. Was that so hard?"

"Yes," Kim said miserably.

Shego's grin stayed plastered on her face. In fact, it just seemed to get wider as she talked. "Don't be such a downer. You wanted something and you had the power to take it. And you did. Doesn't it get your blood pumping? To just _take_ want you want and say screw the rest?"

"No!" Kim said.

"Uh-huh. Keep telling yourself that, Cupcake. The rest of the world seems to agree with me."

With that, Shego turned the small television she had been fiddling around with and turned up the volume.

"— _just this morning. US officials are not saying exactly how or why the attack happened, only that ex-hero turned supervillain Shego escaped their custody, aided by the ex-hero and now supervillain, Kim Possible."_

Kim's heart felt like it was in one of those trick boxes that performers stuck swords into, pretending to stab their assistants.

"_We received exclusive footage," _the newscaster continued, "_as proof that the world's sweetheart and teen crime fighter had really turned, and we'll share it with you now."_

On screen, a recording of what looked like security footage showed an empty hallway. In the next second, a bright flash nearly obscured the image, then a car shoved itself into the new hole in the wall. The video cut to Kim and Shego running past several uniformed guards on the floor and helping each other into the car before the car pulled out of the hole and the video stopped.

All the while, along the bottom scrolled the words "_WANTED: INTERNATIONAL SUPERVILLAIN KIM POSSIBLE."_

* * *

_**A/N**__: Well then! So many questions and this might just create more than it answers, but don't worry, we'll get there. As a side node, Shego is __**ridiculously**_ _fun to write._

_And no, Drakken's vines did not do what you think they did. Ya pervs._

_Also, Ho. ly. Crap. Guys! I expected, you know, __**maybe**__, a single review, but your feedback has been amazing! You're too good to me. It really made this chapter a breeze to write. __**MORE**__. :cough: Sorry. Inner Cthulhu coming out._

_Oh! I also managed to sneak in a bit of drawing to make a cover, too! Mwhahahahaha!_

_Next chapter (which is already partially done), we get into more of the show's subtext, and not just Kim's and Shego's. It's going to be quite the ride. Wink-y face._

_Beta-Read by: 2d66, Morzan's Elvish Daughter_


	3. Still Deceived With Ornament

**Chapter 3 - Still Deceived With Ornament**

* * *

"You've been quiet," Shego said. "Stop it."

"Easy for you to say," Kim said. "You didn't have your whole life just taken away from you."

Shego wagged a finger at her between strokes. "Ah-ah. It wasn't was taken. You left it."

Kim groaned and kept paddling in sync with Shego. It turned out there _weren't_ any other boats left on the abandoned private island so they had been forced to use the lifeboat. Kim had made a couple oars out of debris found on the island and helped Shego row the boat south, towards Cuba. Between the rowing and the motor, they would arrive at the airport and be ready to leave by the time that Señor Senior, Junior landed.

"Face it, Princess," Shego said, "you're one of us now."

"Hardly," Kim said. "This is all just a misunderstanding."

Shego laughed. "Yeah, how many ways can you interpret a giant hole in your military base?"

"Are you going to be like this the _entire_ time we're together?" Kim said.

"Oh yeah," Shego said.

The sea was fairly calm and they had little trouble going along at a good pace. In fact, Kim already saw land up ahead. Her arms were starting to hurt, though.

"You would think," Shego said from the opposite side, "that with all the high tech gadgets Nerd Linger sets you up with, you'd have a better lifeboat."

"His name's Wade," Kim said, "and this lifeboat _is_ powered by a tiny trilithium power cell. It should last for a month going at this speed."

"Woo," Shego said flatly. "So what are you planning on doing, anyway?"

**-o0O0o-**

Kim sat stiffly on the couch and struggled to maintain an awkward smile. Across from her, Junior sat in a recliner and looked slightly confused. Bonnie, in the recliner next to him, sat with crossed arms and glared. Shego, on the opposite side of the couch Kim was on, draped herself lazily across it. Strangest of all, however, was Señor Senior, Senior, who sat in a plush chair between Junior and Kim.

"Thanks so much for the ride, Junior," Kim said to break the silence.

He held up a hand to wave her off. "It is no trouble," Junior said. His eyes kept making passes between Bonnie, Shego, Kim, his father, and back again.

"So, Kim Possible," Senior said, "it seems you have finally decided to join the forces of evil. I must admit, this is most unexpected."

"Oh, you know," Kim warbled, "I'm just full of surprises."

"Indeed!" Senior said. "Perhaps I will get us some refreshments to celebrate your new life of villainy and give you some time to catch up with Junior and your old friend."

Bonnie glared at him, but Senior didn't seem to notice. Instead, he stood and walked towards the back of the luxury jet, leaving the three teenagers (and Shego) to themselves.

Bonnie scoffed. "Doesn't he have, like, servants for this sort of thing?"

"Father believes in what he calls a 'hands on approach,'" Junior said in a tone that told Kim he'd heard this line from his father many times. "Honestly, I do not see the appeal of such things."

"And that's why I like you," Bonnie said with a satisfied grin. "What are you smiling at, loser?"

Kim, perked a brow but smiled. "Nothing. I was just thinking about how the world being invaded by aliens doesn't seem to have changed you much."

"Whatever," Bonnie said. "It's not like there were a lot of them. It was just some freak show couple and their toy robots."

Kim ran her fingers into her hair and laughed.

"What's so funny?" Bonnie said. "It's not like you have much time to be laughing, what with the whole supervillain thing now."

That brought Kim back down. She smiled, if a little forced. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Shego giving her an odd expression Kim couldn't place. "What did you hear?"

"Oh nothing," Bonnie said. "Just that you broke some supervillain out of prison and ran off with her." Bonnie took a glance at Shego. "So you're like some loser supervillain team now?"

Kim opened her mouth but Shego sprang sideways across the couch and draped an arm across Kim's shoulders.

"Oh _yes_!" Shego said. Kim almost cursed. "We're going to set the world on _fire_ together!" She laughed, again that high pitched, squeaky laugh.

Bonnie's eyes just darted between them.

"Would you," Kim said as she pushed against Shego, "just get _off_?"

Shego let herself be pushed back to the other end of the couch and held her sides in laughter. She was enjoying this far too much.

"Is she going to be alright?" Junior asked as Shego fell off the couch and collapsed on the floor. Still laughing.

Kim gave Shego a dirty look. "She won't be in a minute."

"W-w-wait. Just — ahaha!" She doubled back over, still on the floor.

"It wasn't that funny," Kim grumbled.

Shego looked up at Kim and stopped laughing. Then she laughed even harder.

Kim put her face in her hands and closed her eyes.

"You two," Bonnie said, "are so weird."

"Yeeees," Junior said. "I think I will join my father in gathering our drinks." He got up.

"Oh, you are _so _not leaving me with these two little freaks," Bonnie said and followed Junior towards the back.

Kim heard them leave and Shego's laughs ebbed. For a time, the only sound was the droning of the engines.

"It _wasn't_ that funny," Kim said quietly.

Shego wiped a tear from her eye and hopped back up to the couch. "Oh, it was to me, Princess," Shego said. "Oh, but it was even more fun to watch you squirm."

"I just thought… that maybe, since I rescued you, we might —"

"Oh no," Shego said. "Not happening." She jabbed herself with her thumb. "I'm _evil._ Remember? I don't do the goodie-goodie act. I've done that; I wasn't impressed."

"That was with Hego and your other brothers," Kim said. "But if we —"

"Not. Happening."

Kim narrowed her eyes. "So why are you following me to Paris, then?"

"I'm not _following _you," Shego said. "I'm using you for a ride. Besides, Paris has better shopping than Cuba."

Kim put on a sly smile. "Fine, fine. You don't have to get so huffy about it."

"I am _not_ huffy!"

"You _so_ are."

"Am not!"

"Are," Kim singsonged. She turned her head so Shego wouldn't see her grinning, though she thought she'd heard the sound of Shego's hands igniting.

"Um, ladies?"

Kim looked up. The two Seniors and Bonnie had returned with drinks in hand, Senior, Senior in the lead.

"I would ask," Senior said, "that you do not light my personal jet on fire. Melted planes are far too much paperwork for an old man such as myself."

"But father, you had _me_ do that paperwork last time."

Senior rested a hand on his son's shoulders. "Not now, my son."

Kim decided not to ask and was rather pleased when the green glow on walls of the plane disappeared. They each took their seats again and Kim was handed a glass flute which smelled suspiciously like alcohol. She promptly tried to hand it back.

"Oh don't bother," Shego said when Senior insisted on her accepting. "International waters or not, the princess here couldn't do something as risqué as drink even if she wanted to."

Senior sighed. "Ah, well. A sober villain is a cunning villain, as they say."

Then Kim downed half the flute in a single gulp and the rest in the burned her throat on the way down and she grimaced.

Shego's grin could have sent even Dr. Director running in fear.

"Normally," Senior said, "champagne is not — what is the curious American phrase — chugged. But, seeing as you are the topic of the celebration, I believe etiquette will allow."

"Just turned supervillain and already drowning her sorrows at the end of a bottle," Bonnie said.

Kim smirked. "Still full of your usual charm, huh Bonnie?"

"Whatever." Bonnie turned away from the group and sipped her glass.

Kim's glass was refilled, but she left it where it was on the table centered in their circle. The minutes that followed were filled mostly with awkward silence with occasional light attempts to start a conversation. As the minutes ticked by, however, Kim felt herself rather content and despite herself, rather sleepy. She was quickly realizing that a few hours of sleep on a lifeboat after two and a half days awake was not going to cut it.

She considered where she was, a plane filled with people she had a foe or rival relationship with in the past. But Senior seemed to have accepted Kim as a villain and Kim felt no need to correct him. His traditional villainy probably dictated she be accepted and not harmed. Junior had been downright pleasant since finding Bonnie and as for Bonnie herself… despite Bonnie's sometimes snobbish attitude, Kim still considered her a friend.

That left Shego, her arch-foe for so long. Yet she already had been asleep around her. And Kim wasn't sure she could last the full 10 hour flight, even if she tried.

"I'm sorry, Señor Senior, Senior," Kim said after yet another lull in the conversation, "but I haven't had much sleep in the last few days and I'm about to crash. Could I…" She gestured towards the couch she was on.

"Of course, of course," Senior said. "A life of villainy can be very tiring sometimes. I'll have Junior wake you before we arrive."

Kim smiled and stretched out on the couch. There was just enough room for her to lay down with Shego still sitting on the other end. She pulled a pillow under her head and fell asleep almost immediately.

**-o0O0o-**

"Kim."

Kim groaned into her pillow.

"Ugh, whatever," the voice said. "Sleep through Paris for all I care."

Paris. France. Running.

Kim snapped awake and sat on her heels. Bonnie was standing just in front of the couch and looked a bit surprised.

Kim stretched, yawned, and smiled. "Morning, B."

Bonnie put a hand on a hip. "We're about to land in a few minutes. I figured maybe someone should, like, wake you up or something. Junior decided that preparing his hair was more important."

"Uh, thanks?" Kim said. Then, when Bonnie didn't move, "was there… something else?"

Bonnie's face scrunched up as she seemed to mull something over. She looked to the front and back of the plane, but no one else was visible. "So is it true, then? You're really doing the whole villain thing now?"

"No," Kim said. "There's no way I'm becoming a supervillain. Drakken and the rest have that covered for me just fine."

"So you didn't break tall, dark, and gruesomely green out of jail?"

"Well, I did do that," Kim said, "but it's not what it looks like. And I don't think the green thing makes her 'gruesome.'"

"I know I didn't go on many of your… world saving missions," — Bonnie said it like it was a question — "but the whole 'helping a supervillain to escape' thing seems pretty villain to me."

Kim's legs tensed, and she slid them out from under her. "It's _so _not! It's just a- a misunderstanding!"

"Careful," Bonnie said with a smile, "you wouldn't want one of the Seniors to hear you, would you?"

Kim narrowed her eyes. "You're not going to tell them, are you?"

Bonnie rolled her eyes. "Please." Then she crossed her arms and looked rather uncomfortable once again. "Just… be careful, K…"

Kim started to smile, but Bonnie cut in before she could say anything.

"Because whatever you do reflects back on all the former Middleton cheerleaders. Try not to be a _total_ loser?" Then she took long strides towards the rear where Shego leaned on the door frame with a hand on her cheek and a pinkie in her teeth. Bonnie paused, then pushed past her.

Shego watched her go, then sauntered over and flopped across a recliner in front of Kim.

"Soooo," she said, "you and 'B', huh?"

Kim cocked her head to the side to leer at Shego. "What are you talking about?"

"Oh come on!" Shego said. "'Be careful, K.' And the way you smile at her whenever she so much as looks at you. Ugh! I don't see what you see, Cupcake — well, besides the obvious," she made a round, curvy motion in the air, "but I'm sure I don't want it."

Kim felt her cheeks flush. "What are you saying?"

"Uh, doy?" Shego said.

Kim continued to glare.

"Oh don't act coy," Shego said. "You know very well what I mean. I knew there had to be _some_ reason you kept cheerleading —"

"I _liked_ cheerleading," Kim said.

"Oh, of _course,_ you did."

"That's not what I meant!"

Shego laughed, flipped herself upright, and disappeared into the cockpit.

Kim stretched back out, squished her flushed face into her pillow, and tried not to second guess her thoughts during her high school showers.

**-o0O0o-**

As soon as the plane landed, Kim's Villophone rang. She pulled it from her battle suit's pocket and pressed the green call button.

"Is this Kim Possible?" A voice said.

"Um, yes?" Kim said.

"Jack Hench here," Jack said, "and let me just say what a pleasure it is to have you on board with our other clients. I'm sure you'll be taking full advantage of our henchmen summer special?"

"Oh, um, I think I'll… have to… think about that."

"Of course, of course!" Jack Hench said. "Listen, I've taken the liberty of sending your Villophone an updated contact list so you don't have to dial our operators for common calls. I've also upgraded the firmware. The phone is one of our older models, but it still packs a few extra features.

"It's still older tech," Jack continued, "but if you lock into a contract now, I'll throw in one of our latest models for free!"

Shego, who Kim once again did not notice come up, snatched the phone away from Kim and spoke into the pinhead sized mic.

"Hench, your Villophones are contract free," she said. "I paid for the phone, I get free service for life. That's the deal."

Jack Hench's voice squealed from the tiny speaker. "Shego! I, uh, was just introducing our new contract plans for villains on a budget."

"Yeah?" Shego said. "Well try to shove your overpriced garbage down Kimmie's throat again and I'll make sure I'll shove my fist down yours."

"U-understood, Shego." Jack Hench cut the line, his attempts to sell to Kim forgotten.

Shego tossed back the phone back to Kim.

"Thanks, Shego," Kim said, a little in awe.

"Don't thank me," Shego said as she strode back to the front of the plane. "I just hate Hench. He's been trying to recruit me ever since Drakken dragged me into that villain convention, and I _so _despise anyone who makes or uses those Attitudinator things. Later _Kimmie_." Without another word, she threw open the plane's outer door while it was still rolling up the tarmac and jumped out.

"Wha — Shego! Wait!"

Kim jumped up, ran past a very surprised Senior who had just exited the cockpit — "Tell Junior to say hi to Francois for me!" — and jumped out the open door after Shego.

The sky was still dark, and the air was cold despite it being the end of May. The first bits of light could be seen in the east. Kim caught sight of Shego running across the airfield as she ran across the lighted roads into the grassy field south of the runway. Kim sped after her, but even with the super suit's rocket shoes, she couldn't close the distance in time to stop Shego from grabbing onto a passing semi-truck and giving a cheery wave before she started to climb on top of it.

The problem was that Shego's truck went south and Kim's destination laid further west. A semi-truck blazoned with the Red Circle logo heading that way was approaching and she chewed her lip. The truck began to pass in front of her and she nearly stomped her foot in frustration, but activated her cloak and jumped nimbly onto the truck's rear. There wasn't time to call in a ride and she didn't know who wouldn't turn her in anyway.

The truck passed through neighborhoods much like any other part of the world, except for the rubble and occasional Lowardian invasion drone that smashed into the buildings. But she supposed that was the same everywhere, too.

Along the way, Kim flipped through the menus on her phone. No x-ray function or brain scanner, but did apparently contain a laser cutter. She'd likely need that in an hour or two.

Eventually, Kim's stop was coming up and she hopped off the Red Circle truck in a roll. Unfortunately, she fumbled, hit her shoulder too hard, and her tumble went wild. Her head splashed in a nearby puddle as she slid to a stop in front of an alleyway.

"Ow," Kim said, holding her head. She looked at her hand, but it didn't come away with blood. Then she realized she was looking at her hand. She was visible again! She tapped the control on her belt couple times, and eventually, she cloaked again. Wade apparently still had some bugs to work out. She was thinking about how she should have made that roll and it hit her; despite the suit, she was weak from hunger. She'd ate some of the rations on the lifeboat, but that was over half a day ago and she hadn't had anything else since the beach party. She should have had ate on the plane before she left. A quick check of her suit's pouch revealed she only had a couple twenties in US dollars; her euros were in her backpack at home.

She sighed. Maybe she could find a dumpster behind a bakery somewhere. If there were any not destroyed.

A few blocks of fruitless searching lead her to a long line in front of a delicious smelling building. A soup kitchen. The upper levels had been destroyed and one of the Lowardian drones laid next to it, but apparently, the need for food outweighed the risks of the building collapsing.

Kim took a quick look around the crowded building, then got in line, still invisible. The building was packed with people chatting merrily of their survival. A boy ran through blowing bubbles, a man with hefty camera chatted with an older woman at a table, and someone had started forming napkins into origami. Kim was struck with just how… normal it all was. Above all, however, was the ever present aroma of food. Her stomach growled.

A man stepped into line. He bumped into Kim and looked rather confused for a moment, but kept his distance after that. A few minutes later, Kim was at a stall full of pre-made food trays stacked with gruel and vegetables in varying levels of brown. To Kim, however, it smelled like a feast. She grabbed a tray, gave a loud "thank you," and almost ran off with it, ignoring the disbelieving stares of the kitchen staff as they watched a tray of food float away on its own.

Kim quickly walked outside and around the corner, not stopping until she was sitting down behind the wrecked war drone, then began shoveling as much food as she could into her mouth. It was only after she had finished more than half the tray that she noticed the man dressed in rags sitting next to her. He was staring at the tray and the food floating off of it as it disappeared into some kind of invisible black hole.

Kim suppressed a burp, passed the half-eaten tray to the man and a cheery "here you go" and fired her grappling hook into the nearest roof. In the distance, she saw the broken remains of the Eiffel Tower. Just a few miles left.

**-o0O0o-**

Kim crawled down from the roof of the Élysée Palace until she was in front of a window on the shadowed western side of the building. Bullet-proof glass or not, the laser cutter on the Villophone was able to slice through, albeit far more slowly than Kim's lipstick laser. She slipped through the hole she'd made and landed almost silently in the hall. Hopefully, no one would notice a hole in the window until after she left.

Her stealth mode still activated, Kim stepped lightly through the hallway, avoiding the carpet in case there were pressure sensitive pads under them. Then she found the door she was looking for. Another laser beam, and the door smoothly opened into an elaborate office.

"_Merci de me recevoir, monsieur le Président,_" Kim said as she let her cloak fade.

"Kim Possible!" the president of France said. "Thank goodness it's you!"

Kim couldn't help but sigh in relief; she wasn't sure if the president would be receptive to helping her or not, but it appeared he, at least, did not believe the news of her so-called fall.

"You sound like you were expecting me," Kim said.

President Aldric frowned and clicked on a television that had obviously been moved into the room just recently.

"… _in addition to the photos from our airport correspondent," the English captions below the French newscaster said, "we now have this video taken by our crews less than two hours ago who were doing a story on life after the Lowardian invasion._" The screen flashed to a new image. A distinct, girlish "thank you" could be heard, then a tray of food floated through the air and disappeared through the door of a crowded food kitchen. "_It is speculated that this was the invisible alleged supervillain, Kim Possible. If you see any objects floating through the air or a red-headed girl wearing this suit," an image of Kim running at the airport flashed on the screen, "please contact us immediately on our hotline._"

The TV switched off. Kim, who had been groaning into her hand, looked up. "Shouldn't they be told to contact the authorities? And how do you have electricity, President Aldric?"

The president smiled. "I have, ah, given some orders to wait on an official position on your activities. I cannot believe that the girl in that American video is the same one who helped me with those missing emergency relief supplies _and_ my son last year."

Kim bit her tongue. "It was no big, President Aldric. Anyone could have lost them over the ocean in a hurricane. And I'm sure your son didn't realize where he was when that crate went overboard."

President Aldric smiled. "Modest, as always. As for the power, your brothers sent the plans for their mystery meat generators to every country in the world. We have one in the courtyard that is powering the entire _8th arrondissment_. But we do not have much time before my staff comes back. Before I ask you for your help once again, did you need something of me?"

Kim nodded. "You were at the leadership conference in Middleton, weren't you? What happened exactly?"

Aldric frowned. "Shego, was it? Sadly, I don't have much to offer. I and the other leaders were separated from the villains, who had their own lunch room. It was deemed safest for all involved. 'Shego', however, burst into our room and started blasting away with this green energy from her hands. I believe a few people were burned rather badly, along with numerous other injuries. I left shortly afterward."

Kim looked down. But Shego had said…. She looked back to Aldric. "Are you sure it was her? It could have been Camille Leon."

"Camille was in the room when it was attacked," Aldric said. "The attacker was the same as those in the photos from this morning. The one you were running after? She was, however, wearing a green dress at the conference."

Kim exhaled through her nose and tapped her food. "Did you see what she was after? What she might have took?"

"I believe it was a large diamond necklace worn by one of the delegates. Ah, Wanda Wong, the Chairman of the Board of the Middleton Space Center."

"Dr. Wong?" Kim said. "Do you think I could make a call to Middleton?"

"The phone lines to America are currently dead," Aldric said. "I also believe she left to visit family in China, actually," Aldric said. "She left in the same group I did and we talked briefly. Charming woman."

Kim tapped her heel impatiently. She had hoped President Aldric had the answers she sought, but it looked like she'd have to go on a chase yet again.

"Was there anything else, Miss Possible?"

Kim shook her head. "No, I think that's all. What was it you needed, Monsieur le President?"

He moved back into the office and pulled out a map.

"Almost directly south of here, we've been getting reports of strange weather localized around Andorra." He pointed to a tiny country wedged between the Spanish and French borders. "And just yesterday, I received a report of an older man in Toulouse looking for a satellite dish and various other electrical equipment. Strangest of all, the man appeared to have blue skin."

"Drakken," Kim said. "Not another weather generator. Doesn't he ever get tired of those?"

"I must admit, I'm surprised," Aldric said. "He gave a rather well-thought out speech on global cooperation in the scientific community at the conference."

Kim shook her head. "That's Drakken for you. I'll take care of it right away."

"I wish you the best of luck, Kim Possible."

Kim nodded, hit her belt's stealth system, and she faded from view. Then the belt sparked, and she reappeared.

"Uh, problems?" Aldric said.

Kim tapped the button repeatedly, but she remained fully visible. "Oh man. This is just what I need. There's no way I won't be noticed walking through the city looking like this."

Aldric looked thoughtful, then walked over to his wardrobe and pulled out a black suit that looked far too small for him.

"My son," he said, "tends to not take care of his clothes so I keep a spare suit here in my room in case we have a formal function to attend without another suit on hand. He is, ah, still rebelling, I believe, but fortunately without being a stowaway on a supply ship now."

Kim walked up to where he laid the suit on the bed with an uncertain look on her face and glanced to the president.

He sighed. "Otherwise, I could get some of his day clothes from his room —"

"No," Kim said. She picked up the white button up shirt and slipped it on over her battle suit. "This is fine."

The slacks, white button up shirt with black skinny tie, and gray vest were a bit loose on Kim's frame, but easily covered the battle suit. The blazer had to be left off as it restricted movement in her arms. However, her feet — and the only thing left showing — would not fit into the shoes with the battle suit's rubberized bottoms. She'd have to hope that anyone who saw her simply assumed they were a fashion choice.

She thanked Aldric, left through the hall without incident, waiting until the coast was clear, then crawled out the window and dropped into the courtyard. All the guards seemed to be trying to stay as far away as possible from the mystery meat generator, and Kim slipped by easily enough. She walked quickly through the old, narrow streets with her face down, and tried to avoid eye contact. Her mind struggled with the new information she'd gathered.

One thing in particular.

Shego had gone south, towards the Pyrenees mountains and Drakken's apparent new lair.

* * *

_**A/N**__: Oh, come on! I TOLD you I was a slow-burn romance lover, right? (AKA, please don't kill me for my misleading — if accurate — hints and removing Shego. IT'S TEMPORARY, I SWEAR.)_

_Technically, Jacques Chirac was president of France in 2006, but I'm completely ignoring that._

_I hope this chapter was a nice little breather for you because... well, you know what comes after breathers. DEEP BREATH PEOPLE._

_Lastly, it seems the trend of being blown away by your reviews is continuing. I'm a little in awe. Thank you for all the support! :D_

_Beta-Read by: 2d66, Morzan's Elvish Daughter_


	4. Outward Shows Be Least Themselves

**Chapter 4 - Outward Shows Be Least Themselves**

* * *

After several hours of hitchhiking and mountain climbing, the sun was just beginning to set over the mountain peaks and Kim approached the lair carved into the peak. It was classic Drakken design and should have been quiet intimidating, but that effect had long since worn off. There _was_ the worrying swirl of storm clouds overhead, however. Definitely another weather machine. She sighed. Could he at least be a little more original? Was it so much to ask?

She felt her muscles shake with the effort of her hike on an empty stomach, despite her suit, but she fired her grapple and started the climb. Unfortunately, that left her free to think about the one thing that had be on her mind all day: Shego.

Kim had been playing the events of the last couple days over and over in her head, but she couldn't wrap her mind around Shego. Kim knew Shego didn't go with her because she had to. She had decided to. Then there was the whole Bonnie comment. She tried to dismiss the thought, but it persisted. She refocused on her climbing technique, but it was so drilled into her that her mind just wandered again.

Going over the recent past's events didn't seem to make things any clearer, so Kim had thought about every engagement with Shego she could remember while on her way south of Paris. The more she remembered, the more unsettled she had become.

Finally, however, she was at the window, and her mind tossed away all other thoughts to settle on the present moment. Kim felt a comforting sense of familiarity as she dropped into the lair with only a light thud. Just like always.

Something, however, wasn't the same. The lair was dark, which was odd enough, but strangest of all, she didn't hear Drakken ranting about his plans or genius. And Drakken was _always_ ranting.

"Welcome, Miss Possible," a deep voice said that was most definitely not Drakken. "We've been expecting you."

Several spotlights flashed on and focused directly on Kim. The rest of the lair became dimly lit but the overhead lights and in the back of the chamber, she saw three men, all in blue uniforms. Team Impossible.

"Oh please," Kim said as she squinted against the spotlights, then simply walked out of their glare. "'We've been expecting you'? Is this really what you're going with? And the lights? Is it amateur hour at the villain club?"

"We're not _villains!_" Dash DaMont said. "And we're not amateurs, amateur. We're part of GJ now. Turns out it's a decent gig with a lot of benefits and no overhead. And we have you and your tech guy to thank."

"Then you go and become a supervillain yourself," Crash Cranston said. "GJ checked the tapes. The pictures taken at the Paris airport are just more damning. Makes the whole gratitude bit a completely wash."

"Where _is_ your sidekick, anyway?" Burn Berman said.

"She's not my — You know what?" She put her fingertips to her temples and massaged her throbbing veins. "This is all just one big misunderstanding. I'm sure if we —"

"Oh, it's one big misunderstanding, alright," Dash said, "that we'd ever listen to what you have to say."

He pressed a button on a controller and from the floor popped a cage that quickly surrounded Kim. She reached in her pocket for the Villophone, but the floor erupted into flexible claws that promptly grabbed Kim and pulled her to a wall. The Villophone slipped from her hand and landed on the floor with a hollow plastic rattle. From the wall sprang two half-circle bars that wrapped themselves around Kim's wrists and ankles.

"Did you _steal_ this lair from Drakken or something?" Kim said irritably.

"Repurposed," Dash said as he brought a foot down on the Villophone and smashed it to bits. "But it served it's purpose as bait. We figured you either couldn't resist fighting Drakken again, or you'd try to recruit him to your side. Either way, you'd come running here. All we had to do what get you the info, but that was easy enough. We didn't even have to walk around in blue paint."

"You know," Kim said with a smile, "you're _really_ starting to sound like a villain here. The lair, the explained plan, the gloating… wait." Kim's jaw went slack when another piece of the puzzle clicked into place. "The president of France! He tricked me! He was in on your trap!"

Dash smiled. "And the President of Spain and a few other surrounding countries that want a few brownie points with the US, as well as several leading scientists in the area that you've helped in the past. Will Du set up a similar trap elsewhere, but it seems we got the lucky first bite. Face it, girly, your short villain career is over. You're out of your league." He laughed and popped open a satellite phone while Burn and Crash began shutting down the weather machine.

"Yeah, we got her," Dash said into the phone. "Yes, Dr. Director. We'll prep the hoverjet as soon as we can for takeoff." He disappeared, still muttering assurances into the phone, leaving the other two fiddling with the droning weather machine.

Kim struggled in the half-disk restraints. It was always Rufus or Ron that got her free from these. She stared at the crushed remains of her Villophone, but even if the laser still worked, there was no way to get to it. She studied the disk above her for any weakness, but noticed her arms were still shaking. Odd.

"Geez, you really can't do anything by yourself, can you?"

Kim jumped in the restraints. Shego clasped a bare hand over Kim's mouth.

"Do you _want _them to hear us?" She said. She talked only slightly quieter than normal, but it appeared that the droning weather machine was enough to mask the sound from the two working on it.

"You don't have your gloves on," Kim said as soon as her mouth was uncovered. "And… what are you _wearing_?"

Shego gave her a flat look and put her hand on her hip, giving Kim a clear view. Shego had on a catsuit, but it was a completely different design. Sleeker and slightly darker, but still black, green, and asymmetrical. The entire thing must have been tailor-made because it hugged her every curve and muscle despite obviously being thicker material. Only her hands and most of her neck was bared and the green accent lines on the suit seemed to only draw more attention to her curves. A green and black backpack was slung over one of her shoulders which seemed to be made of the same material.

"Is that leather?" Kim said when she realized she couldn't place the material.

Shego reached forward and closed Kim's jaw. Kim's eyes shot up to Shego's.

"Didn't your mother ever say anything about staring?" Shego said. "And like I'd ever wear cow on _my _skin. That's just gross. Speaking of clothes, what are _you_ wearing? You know, you're not exactly helping your 'B' case here."

Kim half-pouted, half-frowned. "Would you just get me out of here? What are you doing here anyway? Decide to join Drakken again?"

"Please," Shego said, looking side to side. "Where's the button? It's usually right beside the restraints."

Shego palmed the bare wall, looking for a hidden switch. Then the weather machine whirled off right before the sound of shattering glass echoed through the lair.

Burn and Crash whirled around. "What the —"

"Booyah!" Ron said. He tumbled easily to his feet and made ridiculous motions with his hands. "The Ron-man is back in action! Where's Drakken? Oh, hey guys!" He waved to Burn and Crash, who, confused, waved back. "You guys aren't working with Shego, are you?" They shook their heads.

"What the hell's going on out here?" Dash said, living up to his name as he came into the lair.

"Um, I'm just here for Kim," Ron said, pointing.

"Well, too bad," Dash said. "We got her first."

"Uh, hello?" Kim said. "Right here."

"Look moron," Shego said. "I can't believe I'm saying this, but would you just help me so we can get Kim out of here?"

"Ah, _au contraire, moin faire!" _Ron said. "I know you're controlling Kim with a mind control chip! I'm not helping you go anywhere."

"Your French sucks and you're an idiot," Shego said.

"I, sadly, agree," Kim said dryly.

"See?!" Ron said. "Mind control! Kim's even talking like you now!"

"There's _no way_ I'd ever mind control _Kimmie,"_ Shego said. "That's Drakken's gimmick."

"Yeah," Ron said, "and you're Drakken's — what was it again — sidekick!"

Shego sighed and turned to Kim. "Please tell your boyfriend we're actually on the same side for once?"

"He's not my boyfr — oh. Wait. Right."

Then Ron leaped forward and planted his foot firmly into the side of Shego's ribs, sending her screaming through the air past the three gawking Impossibles.

"Ron!" Kim said, wide-eyed.

"Don't worry, KP!" Ron said. "I know you're still in there! I'll get that chip off you and out of those restraints in a sec. Just let me take care of these guys."

Team Impossible didn't waste time with banter and ran into battle. Ron ran to meet them. As he moved, he dropped into a monkey stance and tripped Burn and Crash, then kicked Dash by launching himself off his hands. He made a shrill sound like a monkey's scream. Ron retched.

"Ugh!" Ron said. "Did I just —" Then Crash's fist connected with Ron's face, sending him sprawling right under the feet of a recovered Shego who had two hands covered in green plasma.

"Payback time," Shego said in a dark undertone.

"Shego!" Kim said. "Just get me out of here!"

"Ugh, fine!" She tried to run past Ron, but Ron grabbed her leg and flipped her. Ron jumped to the side as Dash and Burn went in for the attack, leaving Shego to fend them off.

On it went. Ron was absolutely amazing. Kim would actually be impressed if it wasn't preventing her from getting free. She looked around for a way to free herself and looked up, stretching her neck forward. There. A big red button the size of her fist a good 30 feet above her head.

"Shego!" Kim yelled. She looked up when Shego glanced her way and Shego's gaze followed. Shego smiled, and launched a barrage of plasma at the three Impossibles, who all went down. Another volley, and Ron was finally hit as well.

Shego dashed across the lair in only a few steps. Kim lowered her head. Shego got the idea and jumped, planted a foot on Kim's head, and Kim pushed her battle suit boosted neck up, launching Shego. Shego punched the button hard enough to land several feet in front of Kim, and the restraints slid open.

"That is the stupidest place for a button yet," Shego said. She panted from plasma overuse. "Seriously, I didn't think they could get worse."

"They could be on the floor," Kim said.

Shego wiped the sweat from her brow. "Don't joke. Drakken might _actually _think it's a good idea."

"Now," Kim said. She cracked her knuckles just as the four men were recovering and noticed that their prisoner was free. "Let's have some fun."

"Careful Kimmie," Shego said, "or you might actually learn to enjoy this."

Kim smiled. "Maybe I already do."

Together, they pounced, Shego towards Ron and Kim towards the three Impossibles. Both groups had gotten too close to switch.

"Don't hurt Ron!" Kim said.

"_So_ not promising anything," Shego said.

Kim slid under a kick, grabbed Burn's ankle, and had him land flat on his face. He writhed, held his nose, and screamed.

The other two went down with a quick flip over them and two feet to the back of their heads.

"Shego, switch!"

Shego acquiesced, and flipped back into the fray with Team Impossible. Kim might have gotten the jump on them, but she still knew they were good. She gave a worried glance back, just as Ron was getting up from the pile of tech Shego had kicked him into.

"KP," Ron said with the authority of someone talking down their friend from something they'd regret later, "I _really_ don't want to hurt you. But I have to get that mind control chip off you."

"Ron, I'm not being —" But Ron lunged before she could finished and Kim's eyes widened as she realized he had _actually_ almost hit her!

Kim sent a kick his way, but Ron grabbed it and used the momentum to send his own kick into Kim's stomach. Kim knew that years of resistance and impact training made it like kicking a steel wall, but she still went flying. She managed to keep on her feet and flip out of the way as Ron came down from a leap meant to restrain her.

"Sorry KP!"

"Ow," she said, holding a hand to her stomach. "Shego, I might need some help here!"

Kim heard a faint, "you've got to be kidding me," before Shego used the now deactivated weather machine as a pivot and swung around to Kim's position. She gave an angry war cry through her teeth and one of her fists glowed dangerously bright. She slammed it down right in front of Ron, and he went spinning away.

"Whew," Kim said as she pressed her back into Shego's. "I thought you might have been aiming for Ron."

"Who says I didn't miss?" Shego said as she pressed back into Kim. "When did your boyfriend become Packie Quan, anyway?"

"Probably about the time he blew up a space ship with two alien's faces," Kim said.

Shego spit. Apparently one of the Impossibles had nicked her since it came up with blood. "You're too soft on him. He's got that stupid monkey thing now. You gotta let loose."

"Well," Kim said, "if he starts glowing blue, I think we're all royally screwed. Be thankful he hasn't."

Ron had picked himself up and was once again advancing. Was he always this durable?

"You could just let yourself get captured and he'd realize you're not being mind controlled," Shego said.

"Could," Kim said, "but he seems intent on knocking me out or at least taking down both you and the Impossibles beforehand. I can't let you have all the fun."

Kim felt Shego's hair on her neck shift and Kim spared her a glance, but couldn't seen through Shego's waves. Then Ron came in, but Shego simply flipped him over her shoulder and into the advancing Impossibles. Burn tumbled to the floor as Ron planted his feet on his nose and sprang back.

"What's with you?" Shego said as Kim turned Shego around to meet Ron. "I'm _evil_. You don't _save_ me."

"If you haven't noticed," Kim shot back as she ducked a kick from Crash and sent him tumbling to the floor with a punch, "we're _kind of_ fighting together here. You're reading too much into this."

"Or maybe you're getting a little too chummy with the villainess here," Shego shot back, this time with venom. She shot Ron in the chest with plasma, and he flew back into the weather machine. "I'm _evil_, Kimmie_._ You don't _save_ me. And you've done this more than once!"

"You want to do this?" Kim said and punched Burn in the nose again — "God fucking damnit!" — "Right now? Fine! Let's do this, Shego." Kim latched her arms through Shego's and kicked both Dash and Crash in the face.

"You've had every opportunity to kill me nearly every fight we had," Kim said, "or at least take more of an advantage."

Kim felt Shego lower herself and a split second later, took the hint. She rolled over Shego's back, planting two feet into Burn's chest. He landed right on top of an already dazed Ron.

"We'd _grapple_ each other, hand and hand, and you'd leave your plasma extinguished. You even melted off a bar on some stairs with a single swipe once and then _let me use it to block your plasma hands_. You've had sneak attacks you could have used, openings you could have exploited. You leave yourself open all the time and almost never try to blast me with your plasma directly. You even attacked Warmonga _and_ Drakken to save me."

Shego did the same maneuver again, letting Kim flip over her back and Kim planted two feet into both Crash and Dash. With both Ron and Burn still in a daze behind them, Kim ran after Crash while Shego went after Dash.

"Okay, first off," Shego said, "Drakken hardly counts since he was possessed by a wannabe pirate." She flipped into a kick as Kim followed suit. "And I've tried to kill you plenty of times. Remember the blender?" She side-stepped a punch from Dash and landed one of her own in his gut. Kim pulled a similar maneuver on Crash.

"On 'frappé'," Kim said, ducking a punch. "It's not exactly high speed. _And_ you waited until I had swam away from the blades. If I didn't swim towards them, I wouldn't have even been in danger."

"Oh look who's been studying her blender manual," Shego singsonged. "How do you even remember this? What, have you been thinking about this the entire time?" She flashed plasma in Dash's face and he staggered back, minus his eyebrows. "No, you know what? I don't want to know. What's your point, Princess?"

Kim sank a knee into Crash's solar plexus. "My point is that you're not as evil as you pretend to be, Shego."

Kim grabbed Crash as Shego grabbed Dash and together, they gave them an equally splitting headache.

"What about you, Kimmie?" Shego said, putting a hand on her hip just as Ron and Burn were woozily recovering. "You're not exactly innocent here. You kicked me into an electrified radio tower. You said you hated me, remember _Princess_?"

"To be fair," Kim said, "you did make me crush on a pus-filled psudeo-boyfriend."

"Oh, and that's _so _worthy of trying to _kill me_," Shego said. Without looking, she sent two plasma bolts towards Burn and Ron, who went tumbling back into the weather machine.

"I didn't want to _kill you_," Kim said. "Just… hurt you? I felt betrayed, okay?!"

"Betrayed?" Shego said. "Betrayed because you thought your arch-foe tricked you. Yeah, okay. I'll have you know I had nothing to do with that slime-filled robot of Drakken's. I didn't even know about it until later."

"You didn't exactly seem remorseful about it, either," Kim said. She realized she was undermining her point, but she didn't care right at that moment.

Somehow, the pair had moved until they were standing right in front of each other, Kim's green eyes barely a hands-breadth from Shego's. Crash and Dash had gotten up and charged them, but as one, Kim and Shego grabbed them, sent them flying into Burn and Ron, and went right back to glaring at each other.

"I _tease _you," Shego said. "It's part of our little game, _Kimmie_."

"Our 'little game'," Kim said, "doesn't mean you get to completely screw with my head!"

And slowly, Shego's snarl melted into barely parted lips, her eyes widened just slightly, but most dramatically of all, Shego's pupils narrowed until all Kim was staring at were two vast neon green irises underneath two bushy eyebrows.

Kim actually recoiled. "What… what did I say?"

For a long moment, Shego's expression didn't change. Another moment passed. Then Shego's mouth worked up and down, but no sound came out. Finally, very quietly, and still with the same expression, she said, "screw with… your head?"

"W-well yeah," Kim said. "I had… feelings for what I thought was a great guy. I thought he was real. I thought… I don't know. It was painful. I actually… admitted defeat." She ran a hand along the sides of her hair. "I had nightmares about kissing robots for weeks and I think the only reason I didn't completely freak out over my ability to judge a person was Ron." She sighed. "But more than that, it felt like you invaded the most private places of my mind and just… toyed with it."

The entire lair was stone quiet. The four men on the floor were out cold. And Shego's face seemed frozen in time. Finally, she said, very quietly, "I'm sorry."

Kim blinked.

"… what?" she said.

Taking just enough time to swallow, Shego repeated herself. "I'm… sorry."

And Kim simply stared. Shego, arch-foe and probably the only fighter who had ever matched her in skill _and _stubbornness, had just apologized. Twice. And she didn't look like she was going to pass it off either. Shego, in fact, didn't move. Kim could almost swear that she saw more moisture in her eyes than normal, but that must have been the dim lighting.

"Shego," Kim said, "what…." She didn't know how to phrase what she wanted to ask. It seemed to die in her throat every time she tried. "Why would you…"

When Shego finally spoke, she was quiet, but with just enough of an edge to make the hairs on Kim's neck stand on end. "I'll go _low_, Kimmie. I'll manipulate, I'll cheat, and I'll use a guy's… baser passions to get what I want. But I don't do anything that will fuck with someone's head.

"You remember the mind control chips? How it felt to watch what you were doing and be completely unable to stop it? Or the Moodulator, where you're incapable of controlling your emotions? The Reverse Polarizer is worse. You know what happened and you don't care because you think the change is better. I had… nightmares. What that blue idiot did with that ridiculous robot… was just another stupid form of control."

"I wouldn't call it that, exactly…" Kim said.

"So you think there's not something seriously wrong with wanting to kiss a syntho-drone?" Shego said. Her fists actually flared. She was… shaking? "The boy toy might not have had a direct phone line to your brain, but apparently it didn't need one to do the same thing. The guys I manipulate know I'm playing them. They just go along with it anyway. But the drone? It's manipulative beyond anything I have done to you._"_

"Shego…" Kim said. She stared at Shego's eyes, but they just missed locking with Kim's. "I can see what you're getting at, but… if you say you didn't have anything to do with it, I believe you. I don't… I don't blame you for that anymore. Or for what you said."

"Oh, that's just lovely," Shego said with a smile that didn't reach her eyes. She laughed hysterically. "What? You're just- you're just going to _believe_ me? After _years_ of fighting you?"

"Yeah," Kim said with a smile that _did_ reach her eyes, "I am."

Shego, probably the strongest woman Kim had ever known, bit her quivering lip and looked away. Kim didn't avert her eyes, but just warmly smiled as Shego brought up a hand to her hidden face.

"Yeah, it's —" she inhaled, then exhaled, "it's fine." She coughed into her fist and looked up. "W-would you stop looking at me like that?"

Kim just smiled brighter.

"Ugh, _so_ not in the mood, Princess."

Ah, there's the Shego Kim knew. Or thought she knew. Kim's smile melted into a smirk.

At the base of the weather generator, one of the men had finally started to stir.

"You know," Kim said, a mischievous smile on her face as she turned to the men. "There's an easier way to solve this."

"Oh yeah," Shego said as she grinned to match. Then she made a pistol motion and a tiny bolt of plasma hit the weather generator, which immediately started sparking.

Then the explosions started.

"What is going on?!" Burn said, who had finally started to rouse.

"Chain reaction," Shego said. Then, to Kim, "trust Drakken's faulty wiring skills."

"I always do," Kim said. She ran forward and slung Ron over her shoulders.

Burn grabbed Dash and Shego reluctantly picked up Crash. Kim followed Burn outside to their waiting hoverjet. Definitely GJ issue. The plank lowered and all six pulled themselves inside while Burn went for the controls and took off.

Shego unceremoniously dumped Crash next to Dash. Then Kim and Shego took to the cockpit where Burn was already heading back west.

"Shego," Kim said, "Can you pilot this thing?"

Shego looked over the controls. "Cake."

"Good," Kim said. Then she walked up to Burn and slammed his head into the console, knocking him out cold. "We'll drop these guys off in some grassy field. Then take us east."

* * *

_**A/N**__: SURPRISE FRIDAY UPDATE! :D Which, coincidentally, wasn't much of a surprise since I TOLD you, but hey!_

_Have I mentioned I actually REALLY love Ron? Like, he's one of my favorite characters. The dude is awesome! We'd totes be bros._

_Next chapter, we'll find some problems in Kim's new vision of Shego._


	5. These Assume But Valor's Shadow

**Chapter 5 - These Assume But Valor's Shadow**

* * *

"Ron," Kim said, "I'm _not _being mind controlled!"

"How do I know that?!" Ron said, still in a defensive monkey stance. "You wouldn't know if you were being mind controlled, would you? Huh? Didn't think of that? Or…" he dropped out of the stance and taped a finger on his chin, "I guess you would, but… you wouldn't be able to tell me!" He pointed an accusing finger at her.

"Ron," Kim said again, taking a tentative step forward in the hoverjet's small bay, "it's really me. Please." Then Kim slowly brought her hands up to gently grasp Ron's finger and gave him the puppy dog pout.

Ron blinked, and his shoulder's sagged. "Oh, not the puppy dog pout!" The last vestiges of his form faltered, and he sighed. "Is it really you, KP?"

Kim smiled. Finally. "Yes Ron. It's really me."

Ron smiled then, and stepped forward to wrap Kim in his arms. They shared a kiss.

"Got it!" Wade said.

Ron released Kim and jumped back into a defensive stance.

"Uh," Wade said, "it's… actually her. She's not being mind controlled."

Ron stared at the odd looking Kimmunicator in his hands, then completely dropped his stance again. "Wait, really?"

"Yeah," Wade said. "I ran the most intensive brain scan I could. Completely normal and completely Kim."

"Oh," Ron said. He looked back at Kim a little sheepishly and gave a weak chuckle.

"Ron!" Kim said.

"Oh come on, KP!" Ron said. "How was I supposed to know it wasn't mind control?"

"You act differently under mind control, Ron, you know that. You act all… robotic." Kim half-heartedly mimed a robot's stiff arms.

"Hey, not all of it does that!" Ron said. "The Attitudinator —"

"— gave you a horrible accent," Kim finished.

"Drakken didn't have an accent," Ron said, starting to pout.

"He still acted differently," Kim said. She sighed and put on her best cheery voice. "Look, it's fine. You found out the truth and no one got hurt."

"Sorry, KP," Ron said.

"No big."

"How about a gift to apologize?" Ron said. He reached for his pocket but Rufus popped out and handed something to Ron, who then handed it Kim. It looked like a blue boxy pen. Kim could swear she saw Ron wince as he moved, but he kept his smile, so she ignored it and looked at the pen.

"Er, thanks?" Kim said.

"Open it!" Ron said. "Press the button on top."

Kim started dubiously at Ron for a second, then clicked the button. Amazingly, a paper thin gray plate popped out of the entirely-too-small-to-contain-it blue box and Wade's image blinked on.

"Wade!" Kim said.

"Pretty cool, huh?" Wade said a second later. "What are you wearing? Never mind. Sorry, but there's a delay in the communications. I'm having to bounce your signal through the remaining satellites and it's no where near as fast as the cell towers the Kimmunicators usually use.

"But about the new device. It's the Kimmunicator 4.0. I managed to snag a few Lowardian gadgets from one of the wrecks in Middleton before anyone could get to it. Jim and Tim have been helping me with the tech. The screen is thin as paper and flexible but when it's spooled out, energy goes through it, and it becomes as tough as 3 inch steel."

"That's great Wade," Kim said, "but where are the buttons?"

"There's a couple to expand the screen and to turn the thing completely off, but that's the best part." Wade smiled a bit sheepishly. "Pineapple is coming out with a new phone next year and I figured you'd want to be up to date with the latest trends. I mixed it with a little Lowardian technology to make it more reliable. It's about two or three decades ahead of its time."

At the screens prompting, Kim touched the bottom and a familiar set of buttons popped up on the screen.

"Spankin'," Kim said. "Thanks Wade, but…" She frowned. "You _really_ shouldn't be helping me. I'm a wanted criminal now."

"KP, you're not going to get rid of us," Ron said. "We look out for each other, remember?"

Kim looked from Ron, to the screen, and back to Ron. Finally, she smiled. "Always."

"Great!" Wade said. "Now that's out of the way, the bad news begins," Wade said. "The Lowardians did more damage than we thought. All the underwater cables that connected the world's internet and phone lines have been severed. That means the only means of communication over water is the satellites, but to make matters worse, not only have most of them been destroyed, but as they impact each other, more and more debris are left in orbit. We're looking at cascading failures within another week or so, give or take."

"Is there anything I can do?" Kim said.

"Afraid not," Wade said after another delay. "Your father's working at the space center right now to make a kind of magnetic garbage hauler rocket to clean up the Earth's atmosphere, but it's going to take time. New underwater cables are being manufactured right now, but between that and the time it'll take the cable layers to install them, you're looking at about a month of downtime, at least. In a couple days, I won't be able to connect with your Kimmunicator for awhile unless you're in the Americas. Maybe only North America; the line down South is sketchy right now."

"Got it," Kim said. "You haven't mentioned mom yet."

"One word: Busy," Wade said. "She's swamped with work at the hospital, but I think she's actually enjoying the break from constant brain surgeries. None of your family believes the news, by the way. And as for the world, Red Circle has been dispatched all over the world and is doing what they can. Almost half the world's military is on engineering and cleanup duty as well. It's kind of amazing, but nothing else is really going on besides rebuilding and relief efforts. Oh, and Club Banana fired you."

"What?!" Kim said. "Do I at least have my Club Banana Club membership?"

Wade shook his head.

"That is so lame." Kim sighed. "Have you been able to find out anything about what happened at the conference?"

Wade smiled. "Knew I'd be looking into it, huh? But I'm afraid not. Everything the military has on it seems to be on a closed system and anyone I've been able to find doesn't know anything or won't talk to a 13 year old. I'm afraid you're going to have to find the answers on your own."

Kim nodded. "See if you can find out anything about Wanda Wong while you're at it. I got the info from the French President, so it's probably a trap, but it's the best lead we got."

Kim waited for Wade to respond again, but he seemed to get distracted by one of his monitors and sighed. "Uh, you're never going to believe who was spotted near the Turkey/Georgia border."

Kim groaned. "Professor Dementor?"

After the requisite pause, Wade blinked. "How'd you know?"

"Lucky guess," Kim said. "I figured he was next on the list of "villains that are a potential threat to the world" and since Team Impossible said Will Du set a trap for me…"

"Great," Wade said. "Well, I'll just scrap that mission, then."

"No," Kim said with a sigh. "I need to check it out. It actually _could _be Professor Dementor. Even if it's not, I might be able to find out more about what's really going on."

"One last thing, then," Wade said. "While you were fighting, I managed to get most of the contacts and information off that phone you had. The 'Villophone'? I've uploaded the info to your Kimmunicator, as well as easy access to all the Kimmunicator's features. I figured it'd be easier than using remote control without a signal when I can't reach you."

"Wade, you rock," Kim said. "And… try to keep on the down low about what's really going on to the 'rents? Just let them know I'm okay. Discreetly."

"You got it," Wade said. The Kimmunicator screen blacked out, then went to what appeared to be a main menu. At the top, a bar read "Complete Radio Silence" underneath "170 Hours (estimated)". Kim glanced over the rest of the menu, then pressed the button at the top. The screen turned gray and the two halves closed. Kim slipped it in her pants pocket.

"I'll go tell Shego to adjust our course," she said.

"We're working with Shego now?" Ron said. "This is the woman who destroyed the roof off Bueno Nacho the first time we met her. I was eating at Cow N Chow for a month! Chow N Chow, KP. That. Is. E-vil!" He looked down and pointed. "And why is your arm shaking?"

Kim looked at her arm, which _was_ shaking. "It's probably just hunger and exhaustion. See if you can find something to eat while I talk to Shego?"

"Sure thing, KP," Ron said. He walked up to her, their hands met, and they finally shared a real kiss. A bit of the tension in Kim's shoulder's loosened. "But," Ron said as they parted, "what _are_ you wearing?"

Kim rolled her eyes and turned away from him towards the cockpit.

She slipped through the doorway and sat down in the co-pilot's seat.

"You've been quiet," Kim said. "Stop it."

A tug of a smile played at Shego's lips. "That's my line."

"Yeah, well, I like it," Kim said with a smirk.

Shego glanced over to Kim, hit a button on the console, and stood up.

"What are you doing?!" Kim said, grabbing the wheel in front of her.

"Relax sweetness," Shego said with a bit of her old snark. "Autopilot." She stepped over to Kim and put a hand on her shoulder. "You're shaking."

"It's just hunger," Kim said.

"Not likely," Shego said. She reached forward and pulled Kim's tie loose.

"Woah!" Kim said. She batted Shego's hand away and checked her still buttoned collar with the other hand. "What do you think you're doing?"

"You know," Shego said, "if you don't think I've tried to hurt you all these years, why don't you try trusting me for a second."

"I think you've tried to hurt me," Kim said, "just not as hard as you pretend to have."

Shego stood straight and put her hands on her hips. Kim glared back.

A minute must have passed. Kim sighed, lowered her hands, and stared out the hoverjet's front window. "I'm going to regret this," she said. "There's nothing wrong."

From the corner of her eye, Kim saw Shego's jaw lift just a bit. Then she leaned forward again and her long black-green hair brushed Kim's cheek. It smelled like vanilla and the sea. Shego pulled open Kim's tie, unbuttoned the top three buttons of the shirt, and pulled the zipper of the battle suit down to just the middle of Kim's bust. Then she yanked the entire left shoulder back.

Pain rocked up Kim's entire shoulder. She cried out.

From the back of the jet, Kim heard a crash as Ron fell into something. Or something fell on top of him.

"Look," Shego said, taking Kim's chin in her fingers and yanking it left.

Kim's entire shoulder was red, purple, and twitching like a nervous rabbit.

"The suit," Kim said, gritting her teeth as the pain dulled just a bit. "I've never had it on for this long before."

"Come on," Shego said. "We need to get this off you."

Kim reached forward with her good arm and unzipped the front entirely. When the zipper reached the bottom, the entire suit lost its tight fit and pain seemed to wrack Kim's entire body. She'd been prepared for it this time and didn't cry out, but her eyes still closed from the intensity. Every muscle seemed to be on fire.

As the pain dulled, she opened her eyes and saw Shego staring at her with an unchanged expression. Kim started to undress herself, but winced from the pain.

Shego let out an exasperated breath. "Let me."

Under the suit, Kim wore only a sports bra and spandex running shorts, but she let Shego pull both her clothes and the suit off her. Where the suit was still sticking to her skin, Kim felt a new jolt of pain, but it wasn't anything like the all-body experience she just had.

Just as Shego was kneeling and pulling off one of the legs, Ron appeared in the doorway.

"KP, are you alright? I heard a — oh man, I'm having that dream again."

Kim and Shego stared at him. Ron stared back.

"What happened to your _skin_?" Ron said.

Kim looked down. Like her shoulder, her entire body was red and covered in bruises. She groaned. "Wade warned me this might happen. I've been wearing the battle suit too long."

Shego stood up and threw her hands up. "Whatever. Your boyfriend's here now. He can finish undressing you." She flopped back into the pilot seat, propped her feet on the dash, and closed her eyes.

Kim blushed and glared, but stooped over and finished taking off the legs of her suit herself. Every time she moved a limb, however, her spasms just got worse. Kicking off the suit, she sat back in the cushions. She really wished her arms would stop twitching.

"Find any food?" Kim said, trying to sound breezy and failing.

"Uh, yeah," Ron said. He walked to the rear of the ship, noticeably with a limp, and came back with three brown plastic bags.

"Ron, you're hurt," Kim said.

From her seat, Shego snorted without opening her eyes. "Have you _looked_ in a mirror?"

Kim tensed as she glared, which only served to make her spasms worse. Shego glanced over, but said nothing else.

"The monkey powers are such a ripoff!" Ron said, apparently not noticing the exchange. "I think after that last time, the blue glow-y thing isn't coming back. On the bright side, monkey kung fu mastery! On the not so bright side —"

"— you're still as durable as a wet toothpick?" Shego said, louder this time, her eyes still closed.

"Now, see, that's just mean," Ron said. "But yes."

Kim reached over and grabbed his arm. "I'm fine, Ron. I'm just going to rest here for a bit. There's seats in the back. You should get off your leg."

Ron glanced to Kim, then to Shego, and back.

"So did she get hit with the Attitudinator again?" he said. "Because that would be pretty badical right now."

Shego held a flaming hand to the side. "You want to run that by me again?"

"Nope," Ron said, chuckling uncomfortably.

"It'll be fine," Kim said with a smile.

"Yeah," Ron said with another glance to Shego, "okay." He stepped back, then stepped forward again. "But if anything happens, the Ron-man has got your back, KP!"

"Always," Kim said.

Ron jabbed too fingers towards his eyes then to the back of Shego's head and backed away.

Kim settled back and closed her eyes. "Could you get us to the Turkey/Georgia border? We think Professor Dementor is there."

"Or it's another trap," Shego said. "Like you're in any shape for either."

Kim spared her a glance and smirked. "Still looking out for me, I see."

Shego's feet lifted off the console. Her hands flew across the controls. The jet tilted then righted itself, and Shego propped her feet back up.

"There," she said.

"Please and thank you," Kim said quietly. She opened her eyes just long enough to grab the emergency ration pack and dig out the bean and chili package inside. Her lips puckered. "Not exactly Bueno Nacho."

"I know, right?!" Ron called from in the back.

Kim heated the food using the water activated heat pack and woofed down the entire thing in just a few seconds. She went for the crackers.

"You can't be serious about going to Poultryland," Shego said. "You know it's a trap. The whole world is against you now."

Kim closed her mouth and put down the cracker she had been about to eat. "It's actually worse than that. The whole world knows who my target is. If we don't get to China fast, I'm afraid Wanda Wong isn't going to be available for comment, even if it turns out she _isn't_ a trap."

"So then why are we stopping in Turkey again?"

"I just have to," Kim said. "Whoever it is might know something about what's going on. Dementor was at the conference too, remember?"

"Ugh," Shego said. "Don't remind me. Him and Drakken just went on and _on_. Those two are supposed to be enemies but they just chat each other up every chance they get. I'm counting down the days until they marry."

From the back, Ron started to snore.

"Speaking of the sounds of hell," Shego said, "your boyfriend has the right idea. We'll be in Turkey in just 3 hours since I'm not pushing the engines. Got to conserve fuel if you want to get to China in this bucket. You should get some sleep."

"And you shouldn't?" Kim said.

Shego shrugged.

"Fine," Kim closed her eyes and tried to calm the continuous waves of thought.

_The potential to fuck with someone's head._ That kept popping up in her head. Kim still didn't see the mind control angle, but she could see what Shego was getting at. Still, Kim didn't really feel it _had_ messed with her head. Sure, she'd been angry. Anger beyond anything she felt before, but nothing had really come of it. So why did it still bother her? And so her thoughts went, back and forth, trying to find a way out of the cycle.

"You're still not asleep," Shego said beside her.

"It's kind of hard when you keep talking," Kim said.

"It's been half an hour," Shego said.

Kim snapped her eyes open. "What?" She glanced at the clock. 9:30pm French time.

"Your face has been scrunching up this entire time," Shego said. "Not exactly the most restful of expressions."

"You seem awfully concerned about me, Shego," Kim said. "Even monitoring my sleeping patterns."

"Like hell," Shego said. "I just don't want a tired-off-her-ass would-be hero guarding my back."

"Oh come off it," Kim said. "You came back for me."

Shego looked at her with a bored expression. "What are you talking about?"

"The lair with Team Impossible," Kim said. "You weren't trying to go after Drakken at all. You went because you knew I'd go and that I'd need help. You knew it was a trap."

"I went because if it was Dr. D, I still needed to get my last paycheck from him," Shego said.

"Which totally makes sense when you consider you immediately tried to help me," Kim said. Her voice absolutely dripped with sarcasm.

"Oh man," Shego said. "You really are starting to talk like me."

"So not," Kim said. "And you're avoiding the topic."

"What topic?" Shego said. "I already told you —"

"You know what, Shego?" Kim said. "If I can trust you to _undress me_, maybe you could try being a little honest with me. And yourself."

Shego glared at her, but Kim wasn't finished.

"You stayed with me when I left the island after we crashed, you came with me to France, and you're coming with me to Turkey. You could have kept the Villophone and gotten a ride wherever you want, I'm sure. Instead you gave it to me. You're following me deliberately and not because it serves your interests. Why?"

"Maybe I just find you… interesting," Shego said.

Kim glared.

Shego smiled. "Or more interesting as a supposed villain than me just wandering again or going back to Drakken."

"That's not the real reason," Kim said.

Shego's smile dissolved. Her eyes darted over Kim's face.

"Fine," Shego said. "But if I'm going to be honest with you, you're going to be honest with me. Deal?"

"Deal," Kim said instantly.

"Ugh," Shego said. "I did _not_ expect you to agree to that so quickly." She sighed. "Look. You kind of remind me of… me. When I was starting the whole villain thing."

"I'm not —"

Shego put her palms up. "I know, I know. Goodie-goodie to the end, even when the whole world thinks she's evil, blah, blah, blah. Now are you going to listen, or am I going to go back to my nap?"

Kim crossed her arms and sat back. She was still twitching.

Shego grinned. "That's better. Look, I'm not saying you're just like me or anything. I'm obviously better." Kim's eyes narrowed, but she said nothing. Shego rolled her eyes. "I just… know what it's like to suddenly not know what to do and not have anyone to turn to, okay?"

Shego stared out the window and Kim sat, waiting.

"I didn't know the first thing about villainy after I left Hego's stupid tower," she said. "Drakken eventually found me after I managed to rob a bank; paid to get me trained in martial arts and more… subversive tactics. Guess he liked the glow. So yeah," she turned back to Kim, "maybe I came along because of that. Happy now?"

Kim propped her head on her arm, then immediately lowered it and reminded herself to stop moving. "Hego said you went bad because you learned to love evil as you fought evil."

"Of course he said that," Shego said. "Oh, don't get me wrong; I _do_ love evil, but that came after I left. I just learned to hate Hego's brand of heroics. It was all I could do just to keep those losers in line, but having a problem with anything Hego said was tantamount to evil in his eyes. You want to know why no one knew I was a hero? Because the sexist asshole kept me in the jet. I was just the _pilot._ Where do you think I learned how to fly these things or why most of the jet was green?" She growled. "At least he didn't rat me out after I went bad. The only good thing to come out of all that was the fact I got to design the outfits. I was _not_ going to wear whatever Hego came up with."

"Oh," Kim said. "I did wonder why you wore that for so long." She eyed Shego's new catsuit. "Sorry, I shouldn't have — wait. Did you change your catsuit just because I teased you about it?"

Shego furrowed her brow. "Oh please. And I think I've answered enough of your questions for the night, Kimmie. _My turn_."

Then Shego gave Kim a grin so evocative of a predator that Kim felt like a tiny rabbit staring at a swooping raptor. Kim was struggling to maintain her eye contact. Weird.

"Fine," Kim said. "What did you want to know?"

"Your B-case," Shego said, still grinning.

"My — oh! There is no case!" Kim said.

"I thought we were being honest here, Princess," Shego said. Kim wished she'd stop grinning like that.

"There's — not…" She sighed. "Okay. _Maybe_ there's something… it — do I really have to tell you this?"

"Oh, you do now," Shego said. Kim groaned. "Besides, you wanted to know why I followed you and I told you. Turnabout is fair play. Time to pay the price, kitten."

The look in Shego's eye was positively salivating. A tingle went up Kim's spine.

"You're doing this on purpose," Kim said, going red faced.

Shego draped herself playfully over the arm rests of the chair. "Doing what?"

Kim's eye twitched. "Fine!" She looked down, between her knees and put a hand on the back of her head. Then sat up, propping her head up on her chair's armrest. She _really_ wished her arms would stop that twitching.

"Well… it was our Freshman year. After our last game of the season, Bonnie and I were the last ones in the showers —"

Shego snickered. Kim glared at her.

"I'm sorry. Sorry," Shego said. "Go on." She waved Kim forward, but as soon as Kim opened her mouth, Shego started snickering again.

Kim sighed and threw up a hand. "Get it over with."

Shego burst out laughing.

Kim flushed and glowered.

"I-I-I-I'm sor — ahaha!" Shego squealed. "I-it's like a cheap porno."

Kim tapped a finger on her temple and tried to get her eye to stay still. It was twitching more than the rest of her now.

Shego's laughs trailed off. She sat up straight, stifled another giggle, and coughed into her fist. Her ribs still vibrated with stifled laughs.

"Done now?" Kim said.

"No promises," Shego said, barely holding back her giggles.

Kim sighed. "We'd been on the cheer team for three years — well, technically Bonnie got on the Junior High School team in sixth grade somehow, so four years for her — and Bonnie had… filled out." Kim looked away as Shego's smile turned from mirth back to predatory.

"I looked, that was all," Kim said. "Most of the girls in our year showered with a swimsuit on. Bonnie had decided to always shower in the buff, like the older cheerleaders. So… I did too."

Shego said nothing but let her leg swing lazily over her knee.

Kim buried her hands just behind her knees and squeezed. "Bonnie caught me looking," she said. "She turned off her shower, came over to mine, got in my face about it and… I… might have… kissed her." Kim bent forward and put her hands over her face. After a minute, she remembered that her body required oxygen and took a breath. Then she tilted her head up just an inch.

Shego had curled up into the pilot's seat and looked at Kim with a mildly amused expression, but her predatory grin had vanished.

"So," she said "why'd you do it?"

"I don't know!" Kim said, almost whispering. "I just — it's perfectly _normal_ for a young girl to have… curiosity."

"Mm-hm," Shego said.

"And her growth was amazing."

"I bet."

"And it wasn't like either of us liked the other like that."

"Of course not."

"A-and our rivalry got even worse afterward!" Kim said.

"Perfectly normal."

"Exactly!" Kim said. "And — you're making fun of me, aren't you?"

"Entirely," Shego said.

Kim swiveled her chair to the front and crossed her arms.

"Let me ask you another question," Shego said.

"I wasn't aware I was having a two-for-one special," Kim said.

"Okay, yeah, you've _really_ been spending too much time around me," Shego said. "Why'd you'd really come back for me?"

"I already answered that," Kim said.

"You told me you wanted to," Shego said. "That was good enough for an answer at the time, but now I'm curious."

"It's _not_ because… because of… _that_," Kim said.

Shego put her hands up and smiled to the side.

"I didn't say it was," Shego said. "But I want to know why."

"Shego, you've saved the world and you've saved me," Kim said. "Everything I said at the weather generator is why. Plus…" Kim glanced to her right, away from Shego. "Plus, after everything we've been through, I kind of respect you."

All that filled the cockpit was the sound of the engines and Ron's snores from the back. Kim took a drink of the water that Ron had bought.

"You should get some sleep while you can," Shego said.

Kim nodded, and her muscles seemed to have calmed down a bit since their talks. She leaned back and closed her eyes.

Kim hadn't moved for over half-an-hour, but was just beginning to feel the first signs of unconsciousness when Shego spoke again, barely in a whisper.

"I kind of respect you too, pumpkin."


	6. To Render Them Redoubted

**Chapter 6 - To Render Them Redoubted**

* * *

"You'd be surprised what won't break your ribs after years of impact training," Kim said. "You just need a few years of conditioning."

Ron winced from one of the jet's rear seats. "But _my_ ribs aren't broken! They're just… mildly tenderized."

Rufus whined and patted Ron's side.

Ron winced. "Ah-ah!"

Ron pulled back and Rufus seemed to cringe.

"It's alright, buddy," Ron said, easing back down. "Just a little bruised."

"_Very_ bruised," Kim said. "How were you even moving around after that fight? You'll be lucky if you can move without pain in a week, much less go on missions. So, again, no, you're not coming with us."

Ron sighed. "Fine. But after the mission, we're making a run to Bueno Nacho! Wade checked: 17 intact and open locations in Turkey and all certified halal!"

"Deal," Kim said.

Ron bent down and picked up his back pack. "Look, I brought you a few things. Since the battle suit's out of commission, I guess it's a good thing I did."

Out of the pack, he pulled some black pants, a purple shirt, and a pair of black shoes.

"My mission gear!" Kim said.

"The very latest," Ron said with a bit of fanfare. "Wade made them a bit better."

Kim hesitated. "Wait. Wade 'improved' these? They don't —"

"No muscle enhancement!" Ron said. "Wade said he didn't have time. He said it'd be more like your stealth suit. The parachute-y one?"

Kim sighed, happily took the clothes, and put them on over her still-only-spandex clad body. "Thank you, Ron." She leaned down and gave him a wonderfully warm and comforting kiss.

They broke apart, and Ron started laying out other equipment; her hairdryer grapple, the lipstick laser, mini-rebreathers, and a some snack bars, along with even more equipment.

"Aaand I forgot your backpack," Ron said. "It's okay! You can take mine."

Kim looked at the week-old-naco-smelling thing and crinkled her nose. She wished the thigh pouch on the battle suit could be removed. "Maybe I'll just take what I think I need."

Shego emerged from the cockpit, unslung her own backpack, and pulled out a green and black roll. She gave it a flap, and it unfurled into an identical backpack to her own, which she handed to Kim.

"Here," Shego said.

Kim looked at the gift. "You got me a backpack?"

Shego rolled her eyes. "Well I wasn't going to carry all our supplies myself."

"So you _did_ intend to come with me from the start!"

Shego scowled and shook the pack. "Are you going to take this or what?"

Kim smiled, accepted, and took to a knee to stuff it full of her gear. Her hands were still twitching whenever she moved them.

"It's not like it matters anyway," Shego said. "I think the lair is underwater."

Kim sighed and stopped packing.

Shego shifted her weight. "Look. Maybe… maybe you should just let me handle Dementor while you stay here."

"Not a chance, Shego," Kim said, raising from the floor sans the new backpack. She wobbled, her legs shook, and she had a curious case of vertigo.

"Like you can fight right now," Shego said. "I could take you with all my hands _and _my legs tied behind my back. Blindfolded."

Kim smiled. "Then I guess I'll just have to trust you to protect me."

"Fine, you know what? I tried." Shego slammed a fist into a button in the rear. The boarding plank lowered and Shego swept out. Kim flashed a smile to Ron and followed.

**-o0O0o-**

"Did you have to set us down so far away from the signal?" Kim said.

"If you wanted to stay hidden instead of parking on a road, yes," Shego said.

"There's plenty of forests closer—"

"No clearings that weren't too close to the roads," Shego said. "Do you want to fly next time or should I just crash the jet and save us the trouble?"

Kim pouted and crossed her arms. The sun had already risen and shined light through the tree tops. "This wouldn't be so bad if you had just woke me up when we arrived instead of letting me wake up on my own."

Shego shrugged. "You looked like you needed sleep, and I am _not_ going to work with a half-dazed teenager all day." Then Shego shot her a glance and grinned. "Besides I was enjoying the view." Kim blushed and scowled, but Shego gestured around them at all the greenery of the forest. Kim uttered a quiet, "oh." They were still trekking through the undergrowth when Shego spoke up again.

"You know, if this _is_ Proffesor Dementor, he may not attack you." She hopped down a natural stone step. "You're suppose to be a villain now, remember?"

"That was a one time white lie with Senior," Kim said testily as she navigated the same step. "I'm not going to pretend to be something I'm not."

Shego shrugged again. "And Hench, but suit yourself. Still, are you really going to have time fight every villain along the way? Are you really ready to have both most of the world _and_ the underworld against you?"

"Why do you care so much?" Kim said.

Shego frowned. "Fine. Forget I said anything."

"Why _are_ you coming along anyway?" Kim said.

"I'm just coming along because you seem to find info."

"Uh-huh."

Shego huffed. "You know, you still could be wrong about all this."

"What are you talking about?" Kim said.

"The grand conspiracy thing," Shego said. "You might actually be fighting your good guys and not your bad guys."

"No," Kim said. "I know that's not the case."

"And why's that?" Shego said.

"Because you told me."

Shego's rhythm in her walk faltered for just a second, but she said nothing. The underbrush rustled as they stepped through it.

"You know," Kim said after a time, "it's weird you never asked about the specifics of why you were caught."

"Because it's always the same," Shego said, taking a plasma swipe at an unfortunate tree branch in her path. "Either past crimes or false accusations, but what's the point? I stopped keeping count about the time you showed up in Drakken's lair. Now I just keep track of which countries don't like me." They walked on. Then, "what… did they tell you, anyway?"

Kim almost laughed. "Now you want to know? Really? Almost three days later?"

Shego growled. "Forget I asked, then."

Kim did laugh that time. "Well, according to the president of France, someone who looked exactly like you attacked the delegation and stole a diamond necklace."

"Are they blind _and_ stupid?" Shego said. "If I don't use the plasma, then —"

"They had your plasma apparently," Kim said innocently.

Shego stopped dead and turned. "What?"

Kim shrugged. "What? Something wrong?"

"If that blue moron," Shego said through her teeth, "plucked so much as _one_ hair from my head, made even _one clone_ —"

"Uh, past problems?" Kim said.

"No," Shego said, "but he keeps asking about it despite me spelling it out for him in our contract. Let's go! I need to broil someone."

"That's what your problem is, you know," Kim said. "You go in too fast and too hard. Warmonga was stronger than you and completely took you out of the fight the first time."

"Maybe there's some things I don't go into at all, Kimmie," Shego said.

Kim cocked her head to the side, but Shego didn't offer an explanation. They kept walking.

"I don't hate you, you know," Kim said.

"Mm-hm. Mm-hm. Yeah. Kimmie?" Shego said. "I am _not_ a radio talk show. Try confessing your feelings to someone who _cares_."

"Before, at the lair," Kim said, ignoring Shego, "we were talking about the Little Diablo incident. There was a radio tower. You might remember."

Shego held up a flaming hand with her middle finger raised, but Kim reached out and took it. Shego extinguished her flames right before Kim could touch them and looked at her.

"I don't hate you, okay?" Kim said.

Shego stared, then yanked her hand away.

They walked on. Shego occasionally checked the Kimmunicator tracker since Kim had given it to her when she insisted on doing something.

"Yeah," Shego said. "Okay."

Kim smiled. A little extra bounce went into her step. Shego gave a disgusted grunt and sped up again.

The walk was mostly quiet after that. They were nearing the edge of the forest when Kim spotted the black shore ahead. She stepped down off the stone slab she was on and held a hand to steady herself on two enormous roots to either side which poured over the edge. Her arms were still trembling, but she got to bottom and turned around.

Ahead of her, Shego swayed her hips through the forest's edge. Even with all the debris, she still managed to sashay.

"Does it freak you out?" Kim said.

"What?" Shego said without stopping.

"Bonnie," Kim said.

Shego's form stopped moving. Kim was only vaguely aware at first, but then her eyes darted up to Shego's. Shego was giving her an peculiar look, then perked a brow. "Huh?"

"W-well," Kim said, "I know it's… not _normal_. To feel that way about… you know…"

Shego turned around and put her hands on her hips. "Didn't you just say last night that it was perfectly normal, Princess?"

"Well yeah," Kim said. "It… it is. I just…"

Shego lowered her chin, narrowed her eyes, and stepped forward. Her voice took on a husky quality. "Just what, Princess?"

Kim blinked and slowly cocked her head. "What are you doing?"

Shego didn't answer. She was still looking at Kim with that odd expression Kim couldn't place and took several more languid steps towards her.

Without thinking about it, Kim stepped back… right into the stone slab she had just hopped off of. Roots to either side blocked her path, and Shego was now close enough to block her way forward as well.

"Shego," Kim said, a bit warningly. She pressed her back into the stone.

The barest of smirks tugged at Shego's lips, but her eyes were half-lidded as she raised her arms — first one, then the other — and planted each on the tree to either side of Kim's face. Then that feeling of being prey crept back into Kim's head.

"Shego?" Kim said again, barely above a whisper.

She should move. She should move. _She should move_. The thought screamed in her head, but her mind was focused on the sounds of the leaves crunching under Shego's foot, the roughness of the raw stone underneath her fingertips, and the rustle of Shego's hair as she leaned in. Kim could smell the scent of vanilla. Her throat seized up when she felt Shego's breath glide across her lips.

And in that moment, she she lifted her head from the stone…

… just as Shego chuckled and whipped around. Some of her hair brushed against Kim's nose and the smell of vanilla mixed with the sea lingered.

And Kim finally realized just how labored her breathing had gotten. Her heart was hammering, and her face felt hot enough to burn the sun.

"S-_Shego_!"

Shego turned around. "Aww, disappointed?" She chuckled again and kept walking.

"Y-you — ugh!"

Kim tramped through the forest and Shego's laugher filled the time.

**-o0O0o-**

"Here," Kim said shortly.

"What's this?" Shego said.

"Mini-rebreather," Kim said. "Lasts 15 minutes."

"It's tiny," Shego said.

"Just —" Kim threw up her hands, put her own rebreather in her mouth, hit a button on her belt to constrict her clothes around her like a second skin, and dove into the water.

Shego followed, still holding Kim's new Kimmunicator, but it was hard to miss the glowing building on the seabed just a few hundred feet out from the shore.

When they arrived, Kim easily found the hatch underneath one of the arms of the structure; the giant glowing 'exit' sign had, of course, helped. She pulled her way up into the lair — which was thankfully fully lit — and heard the overloud squeaky voice as soon as Shego broke the surface of the water.

"I still don't see what the big deal is about 'strudels'," it said.

Shego groaned. "Don't tell me."

Kim peaked through the door into the larger chamber, then stepped aside and gestured. Shego gave her a look as she walked up beside her, peaked out, and sighed. Then she threw the door open.

"Alright," she said, "what are you two idiots doing here?"

"Shego!" Dr. Drakken said. "How did _you_ get in here?"

"And what's _that_ suppose to mean?" Shego said.

"It means," Professor Dementor said, making a pinching motion with his fingers, "that you are, shall we say, _SLEEPING WITH THE ENEMY!_"

"Mm'yeah," Shego said, "you really think I'd be in bed with Kimmie if she wasn't a villain?"

"New metaphor, please!" Kim said, red-faced. "And I'm not ev—"

Shego pointedly cleared her throat. Kim glared. Shego glared right back. Kim growled. Shego growled and yanked her head towards the two mad scientists. Finally, Kim turned towards them, but still leered at Shego out of the corner of her eye.

"I'm not her employer," Kim said. "We're… partners." She spoke the last word through gritted teeth.

"Forgive me if I remain unconvinced," Dementor deadpanned.

"Well, I'm certainly convinced!" Drakken said. He walked forward and started furiously shaking Kim's hand. "Welcome to the team, Kim Possible! Can I interest you in some cocoa-moo?"

"Hot. Chocolate," Shego said between grit teeth behind Drakken. Her hands flared, but Drakken remained all grins and oblivious.

"Uh, thanks?" Kim said. "T-thank you, Dr. Drakken. It's… it's good to be a part of… evil?"

"I still do not believe it," Dementor said when Drakken allowed Kim to extricate herself from his grip. "Where is that blonde boy you always are coming with?"

"The buffoon!" Drakken said. "Er, you and he aren't still really…"

"Yeees," Dementor said. "It was a most odd… thing."

"Are you," Kim said, "taking about Ron?"

"Ah," Dementor said. "She's already forgotten him!"

"I have _not_ forgotten Ron!" Kim said.

"Eh?" Dementor said. "You mean you're still —"

"Yes!" Kim said. "We're still together! Honestly, what's with you supervillains and this issue?"

"Well Kimmie!" Shego said in a cutesy voice. "We're all just concerned with your _tastes_."

"Speak for yourself!" Dementor said. "Although… it was _very_ strange. And you are sure you two are still —"

"Yes!" Kim said. "We are! Thank you!" She stroked the wet hair out of her eyes. "Now what are you two doing here? And together? Aren't you enemies?"

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," Dementor said, "let me get this straight. You come into _my_ lair, interrupt _my_ plans, and _DEMAND TO KNOW WHAT I AM DOING?_"

"Er, yes?" Kim said.

Dementor took a breath. "Dr. Drakken and I talked at the conference, got to know each other, he agreed to help me, came here to make plans to save the family strudel business after the invasion and then you showed up and get my new carpet _SOAKING WET_." He took another breath. "Really, I just had it laid in. There were towels!"

"Yeah, can we hurry this up?" Shego said. "We're kind of on a schedule."

"Yes, and we wouldn't want to keep the ladies waiting," said a voice.

Kim spun around; Will Du was standing on a ledge above their heads and just clicked off a video recorder. He pressed a button.

"_It's good to be a part of evil_," Kim's voice said.

"And… uploaded," Will Du said. "Thank you, Miss Possible, you've been a tremendous help in proving your guilt."

"_You_," Dementor said, pointing to Kim. "You lead him here!"

"As if!" Kim said. "I wouldn't lead Will Du into a trash compactor."

"Oh, that's _so_ convincing," Dementor said. "_DO YOU TAKE ME FOR A FOOL?!_"

"Could you blame me if I said yes?" Kim said.

"Ah, already infighting," Will said. "Sad, really. Well Miss Possible, I must ask that you come with us now."

"'Us'?" Kim said. "You taking imaginary friends along on missions now, Will?"

"I think you'll find them far less than imaginary," Will said. From behind him, four multicolored uniforms stepped into view.

"No," Shego said.

"Yes, sister," Hego said.

"Great," Kim said. "It's a regular fiesta in here."

"The news cast in Cuba," Shego said quietly. "It said I was an ex-hero. You… you _told_ them!"

"Technically, he did," Mego said. "Not me."

"We told him it was a bad idea," one of the Wegos said.

"I had no choice!" Hego said. "Everything else you've done is one thing, but using Kim Possible for your own ends right after an alien invasion? I had to draw the line. I couldn't respect your privacy any longer."

"You…" The edge in Shego's voice was palpable. "You've ruined _everything_. My entire career is going to go down the drain because of you!"

"It was for the best!" Hego said.

But Shego was already on top of him.

"Shego!" Kim said.

"Fine," Dementor said. "I may be _slightly _convinced that you are telling me the truth. On the other hand, _RETREAT!_" He turned tail and ran.

"Shego!" Drakken said. "We're leaving now!"

"Like hell!" Shego said, just before Hego smacked her into a steel wall. She went down to the floor with a grunt, leaving a large dent behind.

"Bro!" the Wegos said.

"Sorry!" Hego said. "I haven't fought her in awhile. It's hard to hold back."

Hego stepped towards her, but Kim did several flips until she was between Shego and Hego. Her legs threatened to buckle underneath her, but she planted her feet as firmly as she could.

"Miss Possible, I don't want to hurt you," Hego said. "I'm sure my sister is using you somehow, but I have to take you both back for questioning."

"Sorry, Hego," Kim said, "you're not taking her. Or me."

Hego sighed. "Then you leave me no choice."

He took a single step towards her, then a giant yellow beam engulfed his body and slammed him into the far wall.

Kim whirled. "Dr. Drakken?"

"Come on!" He waved his arms towards where Professor Dementor ran as he hopped off the laser turret.

Kim turned in a spinning kick as Mego approached her. He shrunk down to avoid it with a "woah!"

"Easy there!" he said. "We didn't come here to fight."

"Speak for yourself," Will Du said, having finally joined them on the ground floor. Kim gave him a swift uppercut to his chin and he crumpled, unconscious.

"You have no idea how long I've wanted to do that," Kim said.

"Oh yes I do," Mego said. "Look, just get Shego out of here before Hego comes around again! I'd hate to lose my only sister. Take care of her for me, okay?"

Kim blinked. Five Wegos had picked up Shego's unconscious body and brought her over to Kim.

"Hurry up," one said. "Neither Hego nor Shego stay down for very long, and we doubt you'll be able to pry them apart if you don't get out of here fast."

Kim nodded and took Shego around her shoulders in a one-handed fireman's carry. Her legs should have buckled, but she knew what would happen if she let Shego get captured again. "Ugh. A bit heavier than Ron. Thanks guys. And thanks… thanks for believing in me."

"Go!" they said together.

Kim half-ran the way Drakken had and saw him waving her inside what looked like a small escape pod. She ducked in, and her knee popped, sending shooting pain through the area. She tumbled, and Shego slid off her back just as she was starting to rouse. Drakken slammed the latch shut, and Dementor launched the pod.

Shego groaned and Kim kneeled in front of her, checking her ribs.

"Are you hurt?" Kim said.

"Where's Hego?" Shego said woozily.

"Back in the lair," Kim said. "Now _are you hurt_?"

Shego swatted away her hands and propped herself off the floor. "I'm fine. Aren't you supposed to be mad at me?"

"Injuries now, anger later," Kim said.

"I told you I'm fine," Shego said. "Hey!" She waved at Drakken to get his attention. "You! Did you make any clones of me?"

"Shego, I'm hurt!" Drakken said. "You know it's not in our contract. And I would never —"

"Yeah, yeah, can it," Shego said. "Now tell me the truth before I blow up this tin can with you in it."

"Er, but you're in it too…"

Shego lit up.

"Alright, alright!" Drakken said. "No, I haven't made any clones! Happy?"

Shego gave a humph, got off the floor, and sat back into a seat.

Kim got up and sat next to her, taking care to stay off her knee. "I'm sorry."

One of those bushy eyebrows raised over Shego's eye.

"I know that you really didn't want the world to know you've been a part of Team Go."

"Che'yeah, well," Shego said, "it's done now."

Kim smiled. "You _were_ kind of viewed as a hero after the invasion, though."

"_ALL THREE OF YOU_!" Dementor said from the controls. In the small space, his voice seemed to get even louder than normal. "And you all call yourselves villains. Pah!"

"Would you rather we let Warmonga take over the world instead of a human villain?" Kim said. "Seems to defeat the purpose of world domination, don't you think?"

Dementor shrugged without looking at her. "Eh, a fair point."

The pod swam on, through the water. In another minute, the craft rocked up and apparently beached itself.

"_Alright_!" Dementor said. "_EVERYBODY OUT OF MY POD_!"

"This looks familiar," Kim said as they waded out into the water and unto the beach.

"Yeah," Shego said. "The jet isn't too far away from here."

"A jet?" Dementor said. "Excellent! You may drop me off somewhere in Germany."

Shego lit up again, but Kim cut her off. "We're not your personal taxi service, Dementor. We just came here to find out what you knew about the attack at the conference."

"That?" he said. "Next to nothing. Shego left, we stayed, then we were questioned about it, and we left. Now if you will be excusing me, _Fräulein_ Possible, _I HAVE. A BUSINESS. TO SAVE_!" He pressed a button, a jetpack unfolded, and he flew off, across the the Black Sea.

Kim sighed.

"Well this was a fantastic waste of time," Shego said. "Can we just go find your Wanda Wong now?"

"Wanda?" Drakken said. "She's vacationing in China after the attack."

Kim rolled her eyes. "Yes, we kno —" She turned to him. "How do you know that?"

"Know what?" Drakken said.

"That Wanda is in China," Kim said.

"Oh, we… talked. At the conference. Apparently liked my speech or something. She invited me to a scientific conference in Hong Kong, actually. I thought it a perfect opportunity to test my new Death Ray. It doesn't actually kill, you see —"

Kim held up a hand. "When's the conference?"

"Er, tomorrow," Drakken said.

Kim rubbed her forehead. "Okay, we are so past the weirdness scale right now, but… do you…" she cringed, "want to come with us?"

**-o0O0o-**

Ron tapped his knees. "So! How's evil treating you?"

"Who are you again?" Drakken said.

"Ron Stoppable, man with the plan, and general awesome guy," Ron said. "I'm not surprised you don't remember. Cause, you know, you never do. Naco?"

"How did you get nacos out here again?" Kim said, bitting off the end of her own cheesy mess.

Ron talked through a mouthful of food. "Turns out the Bueno Nachos around here have _great_ delivery service!"

Drakken, who's yellow flower had long since sprouted around his neck, reached for the offered item, but his vine shot out and took the naco for him.

"Okay, that doesn't freak me out at _all_," Ron said.

Kim smiled. Drakken had taken the seat closest to Ron's, so Kim was sitting opposite them, but she didn't really mind. There were still 8 hours from Hong Kong and the pair of them provided noise to help pass the time. She watched as Ron wrestled with Drakken's vine and Drakken gave out enthusiastic orders to restrain him.

"So why are we flying with the PETA poster boy, again?"

Kim bolted up. "Shouldn't you be in the front flying the ship?!"

"Autopilot," Shego said.

"But —"

"It's fine," Shego said. "You going to answer my question?"

Kim jerked her head away from her. "I thought you'd be happy your _employer _is back."

With her head turned, Kim hadn't noticed Shego leaning towards Kim's ear until her hair fell on Kim's shoulder. Kim leaned away, but caught Shego's hushed, "how's the knee?" Kim leaned back towards Shego just so she wouldn't get any louder.

"Fine," she said. "Now back off."

"Ah-ah," Shego said. "I seem to recall something else you might not want me to say out loud."

Kim flushed. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Oh, then I guess I should just stop whispering and just start shouting about how you almost kissed me."

"Don't you dare!" She said, a little louder than she intended. She glanced over to Ron, but he seemed too taken with trying to play patty-cake with Drakken's neck vine and it's owner was far too preoccupied with trying to teach the vine the game.

"I did not almost kiss you," Kim said.

"Keep telling yourself that, Kimmie," Shego murmured into her ear. "But I know the truth."

Kim's eye twitched. "What do you want?"

"Why _me_?" Shego said, her breath hissing in Kim's ear. "I don't want anything."

Kim shook her head just an inch. "You _always_ want something."

Shego rested her lips on Kim's ear, and Kim felt a shiver run up her spine. "Maybe. For now, why don't you just enjoy the ride?"

Kim swatted at her and Shego, surprisingly, backed off a bit, but stayed close enough to whisper.

"And just let you blackmail me?" Kim said.

"If that's how you feel about it…" Shego turned away. "Hey buffoon!"

Kim let out a little, "eep," and clasped a hand over Shego's mouth. Drakken and Ron looked over, Ron's wrists now tangled in the vines. Shego licked the palm of Kim's hand, and Kim yanked it back.

"Fine," Kim said out of the corner of her mouth while she rubbed her hand on her pant leg. "Just shut up!"

"Never mind," Shego said to the guys, who had already resumed trying to untangle Ron.

Kim fumed for a moment, then it occurred to her to turn the tables. "I noticed you still haven't asked Drakken for that 'last paycheck' you wanted."

"Like he's going to just carry that around with him," Shego said.

Kim's voice was sickly sweet. "And I'm _sure_ that logic stopped you from badgering him over the same thing several times in the paste."

"Oh yeah," Shego said easily. "Plenty of times."

Kim frowned. "Just… go to the cockpit or something."

Shego made a bit of a show of swinging her legs over and off the chair's armrests and stood up.

"Alright," Shego said. "But do not sarcastically suggest an evil plot to Drakken while I'm gone. He _always_ does it."

"I'll try to contain myself," Kim monotoned.

Shego gave her a wink and strode into the cockpit again. It was all Kim could do to keep from strangling her.

* * *

_**A/N**__: Strudels? Not exactly Turkish, but I figured Dementor just had a convenient underwater base and didn't want to show off his real stuff to Drakken._

_Fun fact #2, both knelt and kneeled are correct past-tense forms of kneel. Knelt is more common currently, especially in writing, but eventually, kneeled should overtake it. Fun fact #3, halal food isn't actually edible for someone strictly following a kosher diet, but I doubt Ron actually follows. He just thought it was cool._

_You guys~! You keep reviewing! It's awesome! :D I __**think**_ _I have replied to everyone (except for you Anon, guys, you crazy sack of cats, you. I still love you, though.) Thank you once again for all the fav, follows, and most especially, reviews. It really means the world to me! :)_

_Oh, I made — or perhaps stole/refurbished from somewhere I forgot — new separators for time skips! Woot! Should be a bit more obvious now when time skips happen._

_One final, but important, note, I now have an active beta! Put your claws, tentacles, and unthinkable horrors together for "2d66"! He's playing catch up right now — and helping me get rid of the worst of my grievous mishaps — but chapters 1 &amp; 5 have now been properly betaed and uploaded! No story changes, mind you, just a few things to make it clearer and easier to read. I'll let you know once we're all caught up and beta-ing on publication rather than in post. I'll ALSO be making a note wherever he betas. Here's the note for the last chapter since I choose to forgo an A/N on that one._

_Chapter 5 Beta-Read By: 2d66_

_Next chapter… ahh, you wouldn't believe me if I told you. I'm sure you'll be fine._


	7. Such Wanton Gambols

**Chapter 7 - Such Wanton Gambols**

* * *

"You're joking," Kim said. "You _are_ joking, right?"

"Afraid not," Shego said as she started the landing sequence.

"But we don't have the time!" Kim said.

"We need 4 more hours to get to Hong Kong," Shego said. "The conference doesn't start for another 11. So yes. _I _am getting some proper relaxation and _bathing_ in before we leave and unless you or your buffoon friend wants to try to fly this thing, _we're stopping._"

"Drakken could fly —"

Shego burst out laughing.

Kim let out a disgusted groan. "We're _not_ stopping!"

Shego had stopped laughing and was staring Kim down with an expression akin to pleading. "Don't make me do this," she said.

"Do what?" Kim said. "Look, we _are not_ stopping and there's nothing you can say to change my mind about it."

"Ugh. Fine," Shego said.

Kim felt a momentary wave satisfaction. Then her heart skipped a beat.

"No," she said. "No! This is _so _not fair! Only Ms. Go knows the puppy dog pout!"

Shego jutted her lower lip even further and trembled.

"Okay! Okay! I give in," Kim said, averting her gaze, "but only 6 hours. Then we leave."

"Sweetness," Shego said as she maneuvered the jet down. "Let's go, cretins! Time for some pampering."

Kim twisted away from Shego and propped her head up with a hand over her mouth as her teeth grabbed her lower lip. Her entire body was covered in goosebumps, and she desperately wished to stop thinking about lips and pouts and wanting to bite them.

Three minutes later, the evening light streamed into the jet and the four of them walked out unto a helipad. A gigantic white building nestled in the side of a mountain spread out before them, surrounded by forest and kissed golden by the setting sun. The walkway gently curved up to the building and was lined with a tile mosaic. Elegant lines wove up and down it's length that somehow blended almost seamlessly with the forest around it. Two clear streams ran along the edges, carved into the stone and broken only by tiny stones set along it's path.

"Welcome to India's _Klaba Īvila_," Shego said, "one of the world's most exclusive spas and resorts for supervillains."

"Honestly," Kim said, her legs still twitching as they supported her weight, "why is there an entire _villain industry_ I don't know about?"

"I really figured the villain convention would have tipped you off," Shego said, "but you don't get to serve villains and stay in business by being loud about it."

"There's no invasion robots," Ron said. "I think this is the biggest building I've seen not, you know, crushed."

"I guess they couldn't hit everything," Kim said as they walked towards the building, "just the major cities."

Inside, the resort was even more opulent, with marble statues, exotic plants, and intricately tiled flooring decorating the entrance. Shego walked up to the reception and was greeted like an old friend. Shego handed the bubbly woman a card from inside her catsuit. A moment later, she turned and pointed two fingers at Drakken and Ron, who were still gazing at the ceiling's painted mural.

"You two," she said, "buffet." She pointed to the right wing of the building. The pair gave Shego a sideways glance before trying to push each other out of the way in their rush. "And you," Shego said, turning to Kim, "are with me."

Kim shivered as Shego's predatory grin made a comeback.

"Fine," Kim said.

The walked into the left wing. Most of the rooms were empty or had closed doors, but there were a few scattered people. Kim did a double take when she thought she saw Duff Killigan, but they had already passed the doorway when she glanced back.

"This place doesn't have a golf course, does it?" Kim said with a nervous chuckle.

Shego glanced over her shoulder. "Dunno. Since when are you into golf?"

"I'm not! I just —"

"Madam Shego," said a woman who had stopped in front of them. "Your usual?"

"For two this time," Shego said. She threw a grin behind her to Kim.

"W-wait a minute!" Kim said. "What do you mean 'for two'?"

Shego just grabbed her hand and dragged her inside, past the woman and into a room with several cabinets set into the far wall. She unzipped the front of her suit again, pulled out the card she used along with another piece of paper, and placed them inside the cabinet. Then she reached down and unstrapped her ankle pouch, placing it in as well before shutting the door.

"Well?" Shego said.

Kim gave a resigned sigh, reached into her pocket, and placed the tiny Kimmunicator inside her own cabinet along with a couple other small items. Neither of them had brought their packs.

"No locks?" Kim said.

"It's safe," Shego said. Then she pulled the zipper on her catsuit down completely and peeled herself out of it.

Kim whirled around and hid her face. "Shego!"

"Oh please," Shego said. Then Kim felt Shego press in behind her and put her hands on Kim's hips. "Who was it that used to shower nude just because someone else did, again?"

Kim was tensed to the point she was twitching worse than ever, but in the next instant, Shego slipped through the door into the next room.

Kim didn't relax but sighed again and slipped out of her clothes until she was standing naked in the locker room. Shego had dumped her catsuit in a basket, so Kim put her own clothes and shoes on top, then followed through the door.

She entered a shower area, but Shego was no where to be found. Shego's earlier commentary about showers and porn entered her head again but she shoved the thought aside and showered quickly without incident. The next room fortunately held towels and robes. She dried off and wrapped a robe around herself before heading through the next door.

Shego leaned lazily against a doorway down the inner hallway, also — thankfully — wrapped in a robe.

"Come on, _Princess_," Shego said. "If you get any redder, you're going to match your hair."

Kim glowered at her, but Shego ducked into the door. Kim followed after.

Inside, there were two tubs full of liquid mud. Shego had already tossed her robe aside and was now laying neck deep in one.

"You've got to be kidding me," Kim said.

"Better hurry," Shego said with her eyes closed. "Someone's coming in to do a couple facials. Not that _I'd_ mind anyone seeing you naked, of course."

Kim fumed, but stepped behind Shego and let her towel fall off. She edged over the next tub, sat on the floor, and slowly slid into the mud.

"This is ridiculous," she said as she settled in. "We have stuff to do besides get pampered at some spa."

"Mm, tell that to me in another five minutes," Shego said.

Eight minutes later, "why didn't we come here sooner?" Kim said, practically in a moan. She wiggled down and let the nearly-hot mud come up to her jaw.

"Oh, look who came around," Shego said. "Feel good?"

Kim let out a long "yes" and sighed contently. "I hadn't realized how tense I still was, but this feels… _so. Good!"_

"Glad you're enjoying it, Princess," Shego said haughtily. "We would have come sooner, of course, but _someone_ decided to stop in Turkey for a few hours."

Kim shot her a look, but Shego's eyes were still closed. A minute later, a woman came in carrying a tray and began giving Shego a facial mask. When she was done, she placed two cucumber slices on her eyes and went to Kim.

Kim shook her head a little. "Oh, I don't think —"

"Kim-mie," Shego singsonged.

Kim almost smiled. "Alright."

The woman left when she was done. Kim wiggled in the warm mud and felt more of her tension slipping off her shoulders and back.

"Thank you, Shego," Kim said after a few long moments passed in silence.

"Don't thank me yet," Shego said. "We're nowhere _near_ done here."

Kim smiled and sank just a bit lower. "I think I'm okay with that."

**-o0O0o-**

_"Oh —_," Kim moaned something in a warble into the bed.

Through half-lidded eyes, Kim found Shego's face laying next to her. Shego was staring at her with gray-tinted cheeks.

"Did… you just curse?" Shego said. "I don't think I've ever heard you curse before."

"Uh-huh," Kim said numbly.

"Don't think you can move?" Shego said with a grin.

"Uh-uh," Kim said.

"Feel good?" Shego said.

Kim degenerated into incomprehensible babbling.

"Yeah, I think she likes you, Midas," Shego said.

Kim vaguely recalled Midas being in Greece before, but the thought slipped through her mind as easily as it came. Her entire body felt like it was pleasantly melting underneath his hands. She didn't even care anymore that she was on a table-bed completely naked; anywhere Midas' hands went, tension just seemed to vanish.

Eventually, he left her lying there and went to Shego, who gratefully kicked her legs back up the table and laid on her stomach. Kim slipped into sleep, but it wasn't long before she heard Shego's voice calling out to her again.

"Kim-mie," Shego cooed. "Kimmie."

Kim opened her eyes. Shego was standing next to her in a robe. Kim was still laying on the massage table, but now had an identical green robe covering her.

"Mm, dozed off," Kim said. Raising up just a bit and rubbing her eyes.

Shego glanced down. Kim followed her gaze, then jerked back towards the table. "Um…"

Shego smirked and turned around.

Kim rose off the table and quickly wrapped the robe around her.

"Done?" Shego said. She turned back. "Alright, come on. Let's hit up the nail salon."

Kim nodded, still a bit dazed. They walked a while until they reached a spacious salon. Without Shego's usual gloves on, Kim noticed that Shego kept her nails surprisingly short, if well groomed. Eventually, they walked back into — what was apparently — their changing room where Shego slipped out of her robe and dumped it into a basket. Kim finally snapped fully awake. Before she could even open her mouth, Shego had already stepped into the shower room. Kim noted that there were two new green robes hanging on hooks. She blew air through her nose in a huff but took off her robe and threw it with Shego's before stepping into the shower room.

This time, Shego was still there. Her hair was sudsy as she ran her fingers through it, but her back was turned. Kim stepped over to a showerhead directly behind her. The water was electronically set and pleasantly warm. Kim followed Shego's example and grabbed one of the many tiny shampoo bottles along the wall.

Kim kept glancing back when she heard a splash, but Shego hadn't moved. Eventually, she simply focused on rinsing her hair. The water cascaded down her body in warm little streams, and eventually she relaxed again. In fact, she could have fallen back asleep. Instead, she turned to let the water hit her back.

There Shego stood, a few feet away, doing the same thing.

Kim took a single, jerky step back, but Shego made no move towards her. The predatory air she usually held lately had deflated, replaced by something almost melancholy. Her body was peppered with little droplets, and water rolled down her curves, into her muscled dips and dripped off her fingers. She opened her mouth to say something, but instead, closed it and stepped forward.

Kim watched, eyes locked, as Shego repeated her maneuver from the Turkish forest, but without some of the pomp and more caution placing her feet on the wet floor. Shego eyes were almost pained when she reached Kim. Shego teetered forward and back, as if hesitating, then slowly leaned in, just as before, but with her eyes glancing between Kim's eyes and her lips…

Kim snapped out of her stupor, found her footing on the slippery floor, grabbed Shego, and shoved her back until she slammed into the opposite tile wall.

Shego smiled, as if triumphant, as Kim glared at her.

"What's wrong, Kimmie?" Shego said. "Too much for you to handle?"

Kim rose on tiptoes and covered Shego's mouth with her own.

Shego's eyes widened, then softened and closed into the kiss.

Kim closed her eyes. Her hand moved from holding Shego's upper arms to sliding along her neck while Shego's hands found Kim's hips. Then Shego pushed off the wall just enough to flip the two of them around and slammed Kim against it. Their lips found each other again, this time each keeping an eye on the other through half-lidded eyes. Shego slipped on the floor and Kim used the opportunity to flip Shego back around again and slam her back against the wall. A tile fell and shattered.

Kim slid a hand down to Shego's hips and pulled without really knowing what she was trying to do. Her lips wrapped around Shego's lower lip in a playful tug. Shego pulled her head to the side and started planting kisses along Kim's cheek. Wet hair fell over Kim's face; she breathed in the pleasant smell of vanilla. Then Shego's lips slid over her ear and Kim's skin prickled as she felt breath caress her skin. She shivered as Shego drew in a breath.

"Ronald," Shego said.

Kim pushed herself off Shego by slamming her into the tile wall again. She nearly lost her balance and slipped on the wet floor, only steadying herself when she caught a metal pipe for one of the showers. She looked up, furious.

She just caught the pale green heel as it slipped through the arced entryway and disappeared.

Kim fell to her knees and wept.

**-o0O0o-**

"Come on, KP!" Ron said. "What's this about?"

Kim kept walking, changed back into her newly washed mission gear. "Not here," she said. "Just follow me, okay?"

Ron nodded as they went outside. When Kim reached the hoverjet, she clicked the button in her pocket, and the ramp lowered. Kim climbed in. Ron lumbered after her.

The middle of the tiny hold lay some blankets and a few airline-style pillows scattered over it. There was barely enough room at the edges to walk around it, but Kim pulled Ron to a chair and sat him down.

"A bed?" Ron said.

"For us," Kim said.

"For… us?" Ron said.

"I was thinking," Kim said. "We've been together a year now, right? And… we're both 18. Old enough to make our own decisions."

"What are you getting at, KP?"

Kim gave him a flat look.

"Oh. Oh! For _us_." He worked his jaw. "Um, but… here? Now?"

"Uh-huh," Kim said with a nod as she put a knee up on his seat.

"Uuuh, Kim? Are you… feeling alright?"

"I'm fine, Ron," Kim said, a little irritated. Then she smiled and hoisted herself up, then down over Ron, straddling him. "I just… want this. And there might not be time later. Who knows what we'll find out when we meet Dr. Wong in a few hours. We could be heading for something big, Ron and I… I want this with you before we do that."

Ron shook his head. "But — I mean… don't get me wrong, KP, I… I _want_ to do this, but this seems… I dunno, a little rushed?"

"That makes it a bit more exciting, don't you think?" Kim said with a grin. "Look. You don't have to. I just thought… since Shego and Drakken are occupied in the spa…." She sighed. "I just want this Ron. Now. Before we have to do anything else and while we have time to breathe. Okay?"

Ron nodded. "So… you're sure?"

Kim leaned in and kissed him. Then Ron pushed against Kim's shoulders and jerked away.

"You're not Moodulatored, are you?!" he said.

Kim rolled her eyes and went back to kissing him. Ron grabbed her legs, stood up, wobbled, then plopped her down on the blankets and pillows. Kim lifted his shirt off, and Ron returned the gesture, their shirts tossed to the side. Between kisses, they tried to kick off their shoes and eventually had to stop to do it. A moment later, they were kissing again, and Kim guided his hand to the bra Ron had given her with the rest of her clothes. He sneaked around and easily unclasped it, by virtue of helping Kim into a few different outfits over the years. Ron spared her chest just a glance before returning to kiss her again. She fiddled with his pants buckle, and he cupped her hands in his own.

"You can slow down, you know," Ron said. "We have a few hours. If we're going to do this, I want to do it right. Okay?"

Kim blinked, then gave him a warm smile. "Yeah," she said.

She returned to kiss him and her mind began to wander. What was she supposed to do here? Did she just keep kissing him? Was he going to finish undressing her first? Maybe she should direct his hands again.

Her last question was answered eventually when Ron unbuttoned Kim's pants and slowly slid them down her legs. Kim followed suit and did the same to Ron and their lips locked once more. Ron eased her back. Kim's head landed against one of the pillows. A moment of kissing later, one of Ron's hands tentatively slid it's way down until it's fingers slipped just underneath the lace of her underwear.

"Stop," Kim said jerking her head to the side. "Stop."

Ron pushed himself up. "What's wrong? I-I'm not hurting you am I?"

Kim shook her head, then looked around. She slid out from under him, stood up, and offered him a hand.

"Come here," she said.

She pulled Ron over to the side, pressed her back against the wall, and pulled him in the rest of the way by his boxers.

"Now kiss me," Kim said.

"Uh, okay," Ron said.

Kim gave a little, "umpt," into his kiss and snaked a leg behind his. She closed her eyes and slowly felt herself being worked up. She felt his stubble underneath her fingertips, ran her hand over his curves, and breathed in the gentle scent of vanilla...

Kim yelled, brought up her feet, and planted them in Ron's ribs. Ron went flying back, hit the seat behind him and spun into the next one, which caught him in his stomach.

"Ron!" Kim said. She ran over to his splayed form, but he was already moving.

"Ow," Ron said, holding his side. "So not what I thought you had in mind." He rocked in his seat and groaned in pain.

"Ron, I'm so, so sorry!"

Ron waved her off, did some controlled breathing, then finally looked up. A hand was still clasped around his chest. "Okay, what's going on?"

Kim collapsed in the floor in front of him. "N-nothing! I just… I just… freaked."

"Nope, uh-uh, not working KP," Ron said. He leaned back upwards, cringed, then doubled back over. "What's really going on? This whole sitch is just… _way _off the weirdness scale."

Kim groaned. "I don't know. I just thought… maybe it was time."

"Right now?" He scoffed. "Come on, Kim! There has to be more to it than that! You don't just jump me for no reason."

"_Jump_ you?" Kim said. "I wouldn't call —"

"— hauling me off to the hoverjet, straddling me, and showing me a makeshift bed jumping me?" Ron said.

"Okay," Kim said. "I might have kind of jumped you."

"Yeah," Ron said. "So why? Did Shego say something to you?"

"No!" Kim said. "I mean… no. She didn't… _say_ anything."

"Ah-ha!" Ron said. "So she _did_ something!"

"No!" Kim said. "Yes." She sighed. "Ron, I… I just need some time to think, okay?"

Ron stared at her then slowly nodded. "Alright KP. Is there anything I can do?"

Kim shook her head. "No, I just need some time. Are your ribs okay?"

He looked back to his chest. "Yeah. Just not… fully healed yet."

Kim drew herself up and kissed him on the cheek. "Alright. If you're sure." When he nodded, "I'm going to get some sleep. You should… go back to the buffet or something."

Ron looked at her, frowning. "Alright." He stood up, only wincing a little. "Goodnight, then."

They watched each other for a time, then Ron got dressed, hit the button for the ramp, walked out, and watched Kim as the ramp slid back up.

Kim waited until she was sure that Ron was gone and got dressed herself. Then she curled in her blankets, buried her head into her pillow, and cried for the second time that day.


	8. Obscures the Show of Evil

**Chapter 8 - Obscures the Show of Evil**

* * *

Kim woke up to the sounds of the engines dying once again. She was still lying on the floor of the hoverjet and light streamed unto her face from the cockpit. She lifted her head off the tear-stained pillow and squinted.

"Where are we?" she said.

"I _believe_ we've just arrived in Hong Kong," Drakken said. "A bit _early_, eh, Shego?"

"Shut it," Shego said, snapping off controls in the jet. "That's it. We're out of fuel. This bird isn't going anywhere."

Kim flexed her fingers; they were remarkably not twitching anymore, but still felt weaker than usual. "GJ has probably been tracking the jet, if they still can. It's best to abandon it."

"Woah, woah, woah!" Ron said. "GJ knows we're here? Wouldn't that mean Team Go is coming after us?"

Kim shrugged. "Probably."

Shego stood as the last the shutdown sequence was complete. "Are you planning on going, or are you going to gab all day? They already know who you're after; you'll be lucky to find her at all, much less first."

Kim glowered at her, then glanced out the window. "How'd you — you know what, never mind." She whirled, hit the loading ramp with her palm, and stomped down it's length before it was even done moving.

The other three followed without comment in varying degrees of anger, confusion, and worry. After making their way past a giant mystery meat power generator, they found their way underground and boarded the subway tram, which amazingly, seemed mostly intact. Along the way, Kim kept trying to inconspicuously sniff Ron. He noticed.

"Uh, KP?" he said.

Kim sat back stiffly in her seat. "S-sorry! It's just… did you take a shower at the resort?" When he nodded. "What… shampoo did you use?"

"Oh, that?" Ron said. He laughed uneasily. Forced. "They had this rose scented bottle that I liked. Er, why?"

Kim chewed her lip. "Nothing um… nothing vanilla scented?"

Despite lowering her voice, Shego's head jerked towards her just a millimeter. Kim cringed.

"Er, no," Ron said. "Nothing va —"

Kim clamped a hand over his mouth. "Okay. Thanks."

The subway let out onto a busy street stalked on all sides by titanic glassy skyscrapers. It was a little disorienting at first; Hong Kong more skyscrapers than anywhere else in the world, but now much of the glass was shattered and one of the buildings was even collapsed. At least the streets were already cleaned of debris.

They walked to the north, and in front of them stood the giant convention center, surrounded on all but it's southern side by the Victoria Harbor. Aside from a single Lowardian drone crashed into it's side, it looked mostly intact. Already people were bustling around the building, ready to attend the public talks the scientific minds would no doubt be giving.

"Anyone have any ideas how we're supposed to find Dr. Wong?" Kim said.

"Hm," Drakken said. "She _should _be in one of the preparation areas, if I remember correctly. Or was it one of the conference rooms?"

"Oh, I got it!" Ron pulled Rufus out of his pocket and whispered to him. Rufus hopped off his hand, ran into the crowd, and disappeared. "Give 'em a sec, it won't take long."

Shego crossed her arms. "You know, I'm not even going to ask about Dr. Dolittle over here."

Kim huffed. "Good."

Not long after, Rufus came scurrying back with a folded pamphlet in his teeth. He made a little victory noise as Ron took it.

"Says here she'll be in conference room nine for a talk when the center opens," Ron said.

Kim started up at the giant convention building. "Then let's get in there and start looking."

"Uh, yeah, Kimmie?" Shego said. "Are you just planning on, I dunno, using the front door?"

Kim gave her another glare. "Possibles are respected in the scientific community. I'm still a Possible, aren't I?"

"Of the Kim variety," Shego said. "The Kim world-class _supervillain _variety."

Kim fumed.

Shego spread her arms. "Hey, don't blow a gasket at me. I'm offering to get you inside _undetected_."

Kim snorted. "Right. Like you got in 'undetected' at every burglary you've done where Wade caught you on security footage."

"Except for those bank robberies I did," Shego said.

Kim stared. "… what robberies?"

Shego just grinned.

"Ugh! Fine!" Kim said. "Let's do it _your way_ then."

**-o0O0o-**

The group emerged from a broom closet door covered in kelp, 6-pack plastic rings, and clown makeup.

"We will never speak of this again," Kim monotoned.

Shego shrugged, brushed the last of the kelp off her shoulder, and ducked into the nearby restroom. Kim followed after. Two gray-haired women at the sinks stared as the pair washed up.

"Hey," Kim said, forcing a smile, "bad… experimental… accident. Haha."

One of the women nodded slowly and started inching her way towards the exit. Her companion followed close behind.

Shego grinned. "Well? Who's the best sneak in the world? Come on." She spread her hands as if to display herself.

Kim threw a makeup covered paper towel into the trash and shot out the door.

Dr. Drakken and Ron came out the opposite side a second later. Kim walked towards the conference room without waiting for Shego, then gave an exasperated sigh when she caught up.

It turned out that many of the scientists and other thinkers were having an informal meet before the convention officially opened to the public. There, Kim found Dr. Wong centered in a throng of white lab coats.

Kim started to raise her hand to call out to her, but stopped halfway through the maneuver. Instead, she started wading her way through the pack of doctors. The crowd parted.

"Kim!" Dr. Wong spread her arms and walked forward.

Kim cringed at her name, but returned the hug. "Dr. Wong, it's good to see you again."

"You as well, Kim!" They separated. "And _please_, I've told you before, you can just call me Wanda. What are you doing here? Your parents said they were both too busy to attend, so it can't be to meet them."

"About that," Kim said. "I actually needed to ask you a few questions about the conference in Middleton a few days ago."

"Of course!" Dr. Wong said. Her head jerked up. "Ah! The man of the hour! Welcome Dr. Drakken."

"Ah, er, yes," Dr. Drakken said. "Er, thank you? I suppose?"

The whispering that had been going on since they arrived rose in volume when Shego entered the inner circle, trailing behind Ron.

"You!" Dr. Wong said. "Where do you get off coming here? Plan to steal something else?!"

"Keep talking," Shego said. "It'll give me more of a reason to char you."

"Crude," Kim said. She turned back to the doctor. "Dr. Wong, if we could all just set aside our… disagreements for a second, I _really_ just need to know what happened that day."

"You didn't hear?" Wong said. "Shego stole a necklace I was wearing. It was a focusing crystal. I was supposed to hand it off to one of the scientists at the conference. We thought it would be best to try and hide it in plain sight."

"That just reeks of being a setup," Kim said. "Do you know who suggested you wear the crystal in the first place?"

"It was my own idea, actually," Dr. Wong said. "Why do you ask?"

"LIES!" someone from the crown shouted. "Lies! All of it!"

Kim whirled. Shoving his way through other lab coats strode Dr. Cyrus Bortel.

"Oh, good," Shego said. The hairs on Kim's neck stood up; Shego's voice was deceptively calm. "Why don't you and I have a little _chat_ Dr. Bortel? I've so been meaning to _discuss_ your work."

The crowd around them took a step back.

"Er, you were at the conference with Drakken, yes?" Dr. Bortel said. "Pah! It hardly matters. This woman is lying!"

"Dr. Wong?" Kim said. "And just why would she lie?"

"I have no idea," Dr. Bortel said. "But _I_ was _also_ at the conference in Middleton. Dr. Wong not only wasn't wearing a necklace of any kind, but I never once saw this green woman attack anyone while there! Besides which," Dr. Bortel turned to Drakken, "this man's speech was awful. Even _I_ was offended. I could not understand why everyone was clapping to a speech about 'Draktopia' and his world conquest."

"Alright," Ron said. "You had your chance, Mr. Ferociously Unethical Research guy. We're not buyin'. Right KP?"

Kim held up a hand. "Ron, this doesn't make sense. Well, Drakken's speech does, actually…."

"Hey!" Drakken said. "It was a very fine speech about global domination, thank you! What was I supposed to talk about? Global _warming_? Bah! That'd be totally wack, yo."

Shego groaned and rubbed her temples.

"Kim," Ron said, "this guy's inventions turned you into a mindless robot and an emotionally unstable teenager. Are we _really_ going to take his word over Dr. Wong's?"

"Don't forget changing you to good and evil," Dr. Bortel said to Ron. "I do some side work for HenchCo Industries."

"Aw man!" Ron said. "That was you, _too_?"

At this point, Shego's hands were rolling balls of plasma who's heat Kim could feel from 6 paces away.

"Okay, _Ron_," Kim said, "_not helping_. What I'm saying is that Dr. Wong has never has never really worn jewelry. It's been bothering me ever since I heard the story in France. Dr. Wong, every time you came over for dinner or we attended a formal event, you were always wearing plain clothes or a lab coat. The closest you came to jewelry were your glasses."

"Yes, well," Dr. Wong said, "the board and I thought it best —"

"— to wear a necklace that would no doubt attract more attention to you than most anything else?" Kim said. She pulled out her Kimmunicator and started tapping the screen. "Are you sure there's nothing else you're telling us, Dr. Wong?"

"Kim, it's me," Dr. Wong said. "Would I really lie to you?"

Kim frowned. "I'm sorry for this." She thrust her arm forward and shoved the Kimmunicator in Dr. Wong's face. A beam went through Dr. Wong's head and the screen flashed red with the words 'Brain Altered.' At the top flashed 'No Signal' to Wade. She hit "Save &amp; Transmit" on the screen and hoped Wade would get it when the a signal came back.

Dr. Wong turned and ran.

Shego leaped over the group, landed right in front of Dr. Wong, and grabbed her. Dr. Wong jumped in her grip and kicked off Shego's legs. She landed, and Kim narrowly avoided her uppercut. Kim pounced, but Wong redirected her towards an advancing Ron. Shego charged forward, and finally managed to wrestle Dr. Wong to the ground.

"What the hell?" Shego said. "Since when are the geeks being taught kung fu? They get bored?"

"Such wit," Kim said. Shego scowled. "She's being mind controlled." Kim walked to Shego, Ron, Drakken, and even Dr. Bortel and scanned them. She even scanned herself again for good measure. They all came back clean.

"Was there anyone else who was at the Middleton conference a few days ago?" Kim called out to the — now very distant — crowd. Out of the corner of her eye, Kim saw someone running for the door. She jumped, swung off the overhead lights, and jabbed the Kimmunicator at his face. 'Brain Altered.'

"Dr. Ramesh?" Kim said.

Dr. Ramesh didn't stay to chat about her father, however. Instead, he kicked Kim in the middle and ran out the door. Kim just caught the vision of several police officers running up the hallway before the door swung shut. Only then did she realize what all the whispering was about.

"Police! We gotta go!" Kim shouted. She ran, pulled Ron with her, and spotted Dr. Bortel holding a rear exit door open and waving her towards him.

"This way!" he said.

Dr. Bortel ran through with Drakken hot on his heels. Shego trailed halfway between the pair and Kim. Just before Kim disappeared into the rear exit, the main entrance burst open. Kim didn't stay to find out if she was seen.

The group ran down a hallway of unfinished walls and exposed pipes until they reached another door that Dr. Bortel pushed his way through. On the other side was an underground parking garage. A minute later, they were all crammed into Bortel's tiny economy car and tore out of the garage and into the light.

Right into a police road block.

"This is where things get tricky, huh?" Dr. Bortel said with a maniacal gleam in his eye. He hit a button on the car's shifter and the engine roared louder than ever. Kim was pressed into her seat. Bortel jerked the car to the side and drove up a slab of rubble that served as a ramp over the blockade. The car slammed against the ground, skidded along the pavement, then straightened out and kept going. Kim spared a glance at Bortel; he was grinning like a madman. Kim's death grip of the seat cushion tightened.

Shego screamed something to the scientist which he acknowledged with a nod. A few minutes later, they squealed to a halt outside a completely unmarked door between an upscale restaurant and a seedy looking dentistry office.

"What are you waiting for?" Bortel said. "Go! I have to 'lose the heat.' Eheh."

Shego had already hopped out of the car and disappeared into the door before Kim even had her seatbelt off. As soon as Ron and Drakken stumbled out of the vehicle, Bortel, still with an insane grin, floored the gas and was gone, replaced by the sound of sirens closing in.

"Come on!" Kim said as she took both Ron and Drakken's hands and dragged them inside. As soon as they were in, Kim slammed the door shut and pressed her ear to it. She barely made out the sound of sirens as they came closer, and closer, and eventually passed by. She sighed.

"Hey Kim."

Kim turned and looked at a slightly chubby Han Chinese man sitting at clerk counter.

"It's… Bao, right?" she said. "I helped you with your fishery."

"That's right, and I'm quite thankful," Bao said.

"It was no big," Kim said, a bit tiredly. "One little tsunami wasn't going to stop me." She looked around. The walls were bare and the front counter along with a couch that Shego was currently hunched on were the only pieces of furniture. "What is this place?"

Bao looked bashful. "Er, part-time business. On the side, you see."

"Look, can we hurry this up?" Shego said. "We still have people looking for us, if you haven't noticed."

"Ah, you need a ride?" Bao said before Kim could reply. "I got it." He picked up a notepad on the counter, then he noticed someone else. "Oh, Dr. Drakken."

"Hm?" Drakken said. "Do you work for me?"

"Er, no sir," Bao said, "but I do have your hovercraft waiting in one of our garages. You had it sent over for after the conference."

"Yeees," Drakken said. "I _do _seem to recall something like that; Dementor was supposed to drop me off. Shego! Let's go pick it up and head to our new lair in Mongolia! I have my latest scheme waiting there. It's going to be perfect this time. Perfect!"

"Shove it up your ass," Shego said. "You're on your own this time."

Despite herself, Kim actually looked back.

"I'm sorry," Dr. Drakken said. "Could you repeat that? I could swear I just heard you _disobeying me again_!"

"Surprise," Shego said.

"Shego, you're a _sidekick_," Drakken said. "_My_ sidekick and you will obey your employer before I do something really, really bad."

Shego narrowed her her eyes at him. "Try."

"That's it!" Drakken said. "I'm docking your pay for the month."

Shego rolled her eyes, but the frown and scowl that had crossed her face didn't go away.

"I don't accept disobedience, Shego!" Drakken said. "Not now that I've had my _formerly_ greatest plan ever succeed right under the nose of Kim Possible, even if it _was_ helping her!" His vine popped out of his neck and cuddled him.

"Look at me care." She drummed her fingers on the couch. "You know what? I'm done here. If you're going, you better move your blue ass on your own because _I'm. Not._"

Drakken reached into his blue jumpsuit and pulled out a piece of paper that he waived in front of her. "I still have you on contract for another year, Shego! It's not my fault you _signed_ the 5 year contract. Rather short sighted of you, wasn't it?"

Shego actually started to shake in rage for a moment, then calmed down and straighted. "Yeah, well guess what?" she said in a falsely sweet voice. Shego dug into her ankle pouch, pulled out an identical piece of paper, and stood up. Then she snatched Drakken's out of his hands and burned them both to ashes. "I QUIT!"

Then, still smoldering, she stomped across the room and exited via the rear door.

"… Shego?" Drakken said, as if he did not understand what just happened. "But… we were supposed to be a team. A _family_."

Kim cringed. Drakken's hurt voice was enough to feel like a dagger in her heart, despite their history. She hated herself for what she had to say next; she put a hand on his arm.

"I'll go talk to her."

Drakken just sniffled and nodded.

Kim sighed and, at Bao's acquiescence, followed after Shego.

She didn't have to go far; Shego was just down the hall, firing plasma bolts at a ridiculously thick stone pillar in the middle of the room. Each blast was accompanied by a frustrated yell and more beads of sweat rolling down her face.

"You didn't need to do that," Kim said.

Shego faltered for just a moment, then kept blasting the stone. It charred and chipped, but it seemed to be at least a little energy resistant. Maybe it was meant for laser weapons.

"Why didn't you just go with him?" Kim said.

Shego kept blasting the tablet.

"Fine," Kim said. "I _tried_." She threw up her hands and turned around.

Shego shouted a louder cry than the others. Kim heard the sound of some of the rock finally being torn apart.

"You want to know why?" Shego said.

Kim turned her head until she could see Shego, who had turned around, in her peripheral. She nodded.

"Because you're going to find whoever's responsible for this whole mess," Shego said. "And when you do, I'm going to make sure that the day they decided to use _me_ as the scapegoat for their schemes is the day they regret for the rest of their _short, miserable little lives._" She turned, yelled, and another plasma blast shot into the tablet. It cracked. A large corner chunk fell to the floor.

"So that's it, then?" Kim said. "A little revenge and then what?"

"Then you and I are going to have a little talk, Kimmie," Shego said darkly, turning back towards her. "Maybe I'll go back to Drakken. And we'll do our whole song and dance all over again."

"You're unbelievable," Kim said.

Shego sneered. "Aren't you supposed to be giving me the cold shoulder today?"

"Oh, I wonder why _that _might be," Kim said, meeting Shego's stance. "Maybe you should just stay out of my business, Shego."

"_Try it yourself first_!" Shego said.

"Maybe I would if you weren't such a pain in my ass! You know what? I'm done talking to you right now."

"Fine by me, Princess!" Shego said. "In fact, while you're still throwing your little bitch fit, why don't we just not talk at all?!"

"Fine with me!" Kim turned heel and stalked straight out the door into the hallway. Behind her, she heard a yell and the sound of stone crumbling to pieces.

**-o0O0o-**

Kim _hated_ limo rides. There was nothing to do except sit watch the world pass by.

Maybe she was being ridiculous; she'd sat and talked with friends and clients for hours in similar conditions. And the limo was rather luxurious, if smaller then some of the ones she'd gotten rides in.

The problem was that she didn't want to talk. That meant she had time to think and she didn't want to do that either.

Shego sat opposite Kim, for once not lounging despite the large bench seat. Both of them occupied the furtherest corners of the cabin from each other. Ron sat next to Kim, but remained eerily quiet while taking fugitive glances between her and Shego.

Drakken had left, brokenhearted, for his hovercraft after refusing to take Kim. Shego refused to go with him anyway, though Kim wouldn't have minded an excuse to leave her behind. Kim had tried to cheer Drakken up by promising to come foil his plans later, but it didn't seem to work.

A few minutes after the fight with Shego, Wade's signal had come back. Apparently Hong Kong was now flooded with police and GJ agents. Team Go had even arrived in the Go Jet just as Wade called. The only reason Kim had even got away was because the Hong Kong police tried to take her by themselves instead of calling in their GJ backup as planned.

Wade analyzed the brain scans. They didn't match anything they'd seen before. When Kim has suggested going after more mind controlled people, Wade balked. He said even if she did find them, there's nothing more they could learn until he could figure out how release the control. Kim suggested capturing them and Wade had asked her if she really thought she could fight the bulk of the world's military. Kim had cringed. A few futile arguments later, Kim agreed to lay low until Wade could find more information.

So Kim stared out the window as they passed the Guangzhou metro area and into the countryside. It was repetitive. And _boring_.

_I could always think through my problems instead of avoiding them_, a voice in her head said.

Kim shook her head. She froze, then refused to looked anywhere but out the window for fear of seeming insane.

_I can't just ignore it forever,_ the voice said.

Kim focused on the passing greenery outside her window and started counting the number of power poles passing by. But eventually…

_Just don't think about it, then_, the voice said. Which, of course, caused her to think about it.

_I really hate you_, Kim thought.

_But I am you_, it said.

… _this is just awkweird._

_I'm not the one talking to myself_.

_Stop that!_ Kim thought.

But once planted, the thought festered. Her anger let her block out the memory of Shego well enough, but Ron stood out in her mind like a beacon. She had felt… nothing. Of course, that was surely just nerves… but she should have felt _something_, shouldn't she? Maybe not; it _was_ rushed and she _did_ feel something when they kissed. It was always sweet, warm, and comforting, like coming home after a long mission.

_But when I kissed Shego…_ the voice slipped into her mind.

When she kissed Shego… it had been electrifying.

She mentally shook the thought. It was electrifying because it was wrong; Shego was a villain, a villain she had fought more than all her other foes put together. A foe who had constantly put her in danger; she didn't kiss someone like that!

_But I did_, the voice said, _and I _liked _it._

_No_, Kim argued. _I was just surprised._

_Which is why I started kissing her first. _The voice took on a sarcastic tone.

Kim sucked in her lips. Losing an argument with herself was about a 8.7 on the weirdness scale, but she pressed on.

_I was tired of her teasing me_, Kim told her brain confidently. _I was enjoying throwing _her _off balance for once._

_Is that why I can't stop thinking about the feel of her body under my hands, the touch of her lips, or the scent of —_

_I'm not like that!_ _I'm not, I'm really not!_

_What about Bonnie?_

This was the problem with talking to herself. The other side of the argument knew everything she did.

Kim tried to ignore the question and instead thought about all the boys she'd crushed on throughout her life. The most obvious was Josh Mankey.

_Who Bonnie was interested in first. After he started dating Tara, Bonnie lost interest, and so did I._

_That was a coincidence, _Kim thought. _What about Bobby Johnson?_

_I only liked him because he asked out Bonnie first._

Kim cringed. Actually cringed. She couldn't deny that one. _The Eric bot!_

_I cannot believe I just thought that. Besides, he _also _had Bonnie's interest._

_What about Walter Nelson? _Kim thought. _Bonnie didn't even know about him!_

_We were kids!_

At this point, Kim's breathing had become somewhat labored. A finger rapidly tapped the limo door's armrest.

_Hirotaka! I definitely was crushing on him!_

_So was Bonnie, _the voice said, _and Monique egged things on. Not to mention his martial skills._

Then it hit Kim. She was interested in Shego _because_ of her martial skills!

_Interesting thought, _said her brain, e_specially the 'interested in' part._

Kim mentally backpedaled.

None of this explained Ron. Bonnie was never interested in him, except when he had money. Kim still got together with him!

_But that was right after Eric,_ the voice said reasonably. _I was feeling vulnerable and wanted to feel needed. It's a classic rebound._

Her stomach twisted and there was an odd pressure in her chest. This was why she rarely became introspective. It never turned out well.

_But I love Ron!_ Kim thought.

_Like a brother,_ the voice said. _But I have no sexual desire for him whatsoever. There are a couple people I _have _felt that way about, though…_

"Stop the car," Kim said quietly. She hit the intercom button. "Stop the car!"

The limo lurched to a stop. Kim ripped the door open, jumped out of the cabin, and took two steps before her breakfast came back up.

She heaved again and tried to control her breathing, but it was a losing battle; she gasped for air in shaky, staggered breaths that hardly let any air in. She could barely see in front of her. Her head felt light, her body swayed, and a part of her wanted to run away as fast as her legs would carry her. The other part just wanted to fall to her knees right there and rot, forgotten.

Instead, she stood there and fought back silent, quivering sobs.

"KP?" Ron said behind her.

Kim sucked in air, but it caught in her throat. Tears welled in eyes.

"Just… just a second," Kim said in wavering voice. She stood up straighter, spit, wiped her mouth and eyes, and took several calming breathes. Finally, she turned and clamored back into the limo's cabin. Ron looked at her with concern in his eyes, but she ignored it. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Shego giving her a look of her own, but this too she ignored.

She felt dead. Empty inside. Her head leaned against the window and she watched with unfocused eyes and an blank mind as the world passed by.

Not long after, they arrived at a small airfield. The three of them piled into a Cessna, put on the offered earmuffs, and the four-seater airplane took off towards the north. Kim tried to nap, but despite how utterly exhausted she now felt, she couldn't seem to do it. Instead, she stared at the floor and listened to the muffled cry of the engine.

Only after the sun set did they arrive. Kim muttered a thank you to their pilot, opened the passenger door, and jumped into the night air. A short free fall later, she pulled the cord on her green and black backpack and drifted towards the base of a shrub covered mountain while underneath a parachute. Shego and Ron landed shortly after.

A good distance to the south laid the Great Wall, lit by electric lights, but once their chutes were packed back up, Kim turned north, up the mountain. Shego and Ron followed silently behind her. She had refused to tell them exactly where they were going — she had refused to say much of anything after leaving the hideout, in fact, — but it wouldn't be far.

Another 30 minutes, and Kim walked up the stone pathway to the entrance of the walled compound she was looking for, took a trembling breath, and knocked.

The door immediately opened and out stepped an old Han Chinese man. He was about Kim's height, clean shaven, and didn't look much over 50, but the sparse white hair on his head and a couple liver spots under one of his eyes betrayed some of his age.

Kim brought her left fist together with her right palm and bowed. "Sifu."

Sifu Wei Ding returned the gesture. "_Túdì_, you have grown." He smiled. "What can an old man do for you?"

Kim scratched one of her temples. "It's complicated, Sifu —"

Sifu held up a hand. "I did not ask what brought you here, _túdì_." His smile didn't wavier.

She shuffled her feet. "Um. We need a place to hide for awhile but —"

"Very good, then," he said. "You three may stay in the guest dorm until you see fit to leave. "

Something in Kim started to panic as Sifu turned to lead them through the door. "Wait! Could… one of us go to a different dormitory?"

Sifu looked at her, then nodded. "Very well. Young man" He turned to Ron. "I will have a student take you to the male dormitory."

"N-no!" Kim said. "That's not —"

Sifu gave her a hard look. Kim quelled.

"N-never mind," Kim said. Then, "Sifu, I'm sorry I have to ask this, but… would you mind if we did a brain scan? It's important."

His expression softened. "If you wish."

Kim nodded, pulled out the Kimmunicator, and scanned. No brain abnormalities. She sighed.

"Are you satisfied?" Sifu said with a new smile that told her she'd be paying for this later.

"Yes, Sifu, thank you."

He waved them into the compound and the gates shut behind them. Another motion and a student came running. Ron gave Kim a wistful look, then went with the student.

"You are also welcome to continue your studies, if you wish," Sifu said. "It would be good to continue where we left off."

"I… might do that," Kim said. "Thank you again."

Sifu gave her another smile over his shoulder. "Bitchin'."

* * *

**A/N**: Writing Evaluation:

_**Achievement Unlocked**__: Drama Genre_

_**Achievement Unlocked**__: Asshole Author_

_10/10 Would torment readers again_


	9. The Seeming Truth

**Chapter 9 - The Seeming Truth**

* * *

"We need a place to hide and you pick grandpa's shack in the mountains?" Shego said from the other room, unseen.

Kim flinched, but pulled on the fresh clothes; a white tank top and loose pants with a new set of sporty undergarments. Her body moved sluggishly and it took more effort to pick up even her hair brush when she was done. Her anger, once a raging inferno, felt fuzzy around the edges, like someone had draped a heavy woolen blanket over an angry dog.

From the door came two knocks. Kim exited the bathroom, padded over, and accepted a tray full of dumplings from a young boy. He waited patiently, and Kim idly wondered if he was expecting a tip before it hit her. She turned back into the room and brought back her pile of clothes, along with Shego's catsuit — she was wearing the same white clothes Kim wore. He took off running as soon as Kim set them in his hands. She picked up the tray, took two of the dumplings, then put the rest with the tray on Shego's bed. She ate, brushed her teeth, put on her shoes, and threw the door back open.

Ron stared at her.

"KP —"

Kim held up a hand. "Ron, not now. Please."

"Sorry, KP," Ron said, abashed. "I know I should be giving you your space, but I—" He rubbed his neck. "I know _something_ is wrong, and I just need to _do_ something about it. There's gotta be something I can do to help you"

Kim's heart felt like Ron had just grabbed it and sank his fingers into it. "I'm so sorry, Ron." She took his hands in hers, but looked at the floor. "I didn't mean to ignore you, but… can we just pretend everything is normal for awhile? There's too much to think about right now. We can deal with my stuff later, okay?" She looked up.

Ron's eyes bored into her. For a moment, Kim thought he might press the issue. Finally, he sighed. "Alright KP. But only until this whole thing is over!"

Kim smiled. "Deal." She glanced to her right. "But I really have to go. Maybe you could show the other students some Monkey Kung Fu. It's a Chinese martial art, after all. Talk later?"

"Yeah," Ron said, "okay."

Kim hesitated, then kissed him on the cheek. She stepped out, shut the door behind her, and walked towards the door opposite of the front gates and slightly to the side of two oversized double doors. It opened soundlessly as Kim stepped inside.

"So what _does_ bring you to me, _túdì_?"

Kim nearly jumped. Sifu sat beside a tiny table, pouring tea. Another seat sat opposite him. Kim strode across the room, took her seat, and Sifu handed her a cup. Kim sipped.

"I thought you didn't want to know the reasons," she said, not meeting his eyes.

"No," Sifu said in his deep rumble that did not fit his light frame. "I do not need to know that you are, ah, 'on the lam,' I believe the phrase is."

Kim started.

"I have cable, you know." Sifu shrugged, then looked at her cup. "You haven't said anything about your tea. That could be considered rude."

"S-sorry!" Kim said, taking another quick sip. "It's really good, actually. Subtle. …I'm sorry, I'm just… distracted."

"Which brings me back to my question," Sifu said.

"But you just said —"

"That I didn't need to know certain things, yes." He smiled. "I mean, why did you come to _me_?"

"I need a reason to visit?" Kim said.

"No," Sifu said, "but you have one."

Kim stared at him just a moment, then hunched over her tea. "You're as bad at talking to myself," she said.

Sifu blinked. "What?"

"Never mind," Kim said. "I just… I needed somewhere I could think. I needed to do something and if I had to stay in one place, I might as well do it here."

"You'll note that doesn't entirely answer my question of why," Sifu said. Then, when Kim opened her mouth, he cut her off with a wave of his palm. "No, if you don't wish to tell me, you needn't."

He got up, and Kim quickly followed.

"The student's hour for meditation is nearly over," he said. "Would you be so kind as to clean my tea set for me then join me in the courtyard for a demonstration?"

She almost said '_I just got here!'_ but bit her tongue. Instead, she said, "a demonstration? Sifu, are you sure? I haven't fought someone of your caliber since… well, since I left the school."

"A practice match is not the same thing as a fight," Sifu said. "If you don't wish to take part —"

Kim raised her hands in a _bao quan_ a gave a nod. "No, Sifu. I'll participate."

He flashed a grin, waved over his shoulder, and stepped out the door.

Kim took the tray with the tea set into the small kitchen and washed out the kettle then the cups. Her hands still felt stiff, but she cleaned well enough. A few minutes later, Kim walked out the door and into the center courtyard. 23 students stood in a loose square, watching their master as he talked. Along the far wall, where the gate sat, stood Ron. Kim noted her dorm door was hanging open, but Shego was nowhere to be found.

"Ah, there she is," Sifu said. "Come. I want to see just how much you have remembered your studies, _túdì_."

"Uh, right here?" Kim said. "Now?"

"Right here," Sifu said. "Now."

Kim bit her lip. Ron flashed her two thumbs up. She widened her stance and faced her teacher.

"I'm ready," she said.

Sifu bowed his head and matched her stance.

In the next instant, Kim landed flat on her back and her vision clouded.

"That was a poor effort," Sifu said. "Would you care to try again?"

Slowly, her vision brightened again. She nodded.

They readied. Kim managed to dodge Sifu's first grapple, but he merely took another step forward and spun Kim around his arm until she landed, once again, on her back. Her vision turned back to black around the edges as Sifu turned towards her and offered her a hand.

"A most disappointing try, _túdì_," he said.

Kim cringed.

"Would you care to try again, or would you like to rest?"

"Y-yes, Sifu," Kim said.

"This is bullshit!"

Several students gasped. As one, they turned towards the gates where Shego was striding into the compound.

"If you were any kind of decent teacher," Shego said, "you'd see how exhausted she is and not have her fight!"

A student came up to her and started shouting what Kim could only assume were some very rude things. Shego blasted him back with a bit of plasma. Kim grit her teeth.

"I did," Sifu said before Kim could start to shout herself, "in fact, know how exhausted she was. The lesson I was demonstrating for my students was to know their own limits, acknowledge them, and assert them. You, however, do not seem receptive to such subtleties. Perhaps a true demonstration, instead."

"Sifu!" Kim said.

"You want to fight me?" Shego said. "Please, I'd snap you like a twig."

"I will take that chance," Sifu said. "I will allow you to use whatever techniques you have at your disposal, including that green energy you just demonstrated."

"Sifu!" Kim said, but was still ignored.

Shego smiled. "Fine, then. Don't say I didn't warn you, old man."

"Sifu!" Kim said, this time standing in front of him and hold out her hands out. "You can't! You don't know Shego like I do!"

Sifu perked a brow. "Indeed? But this is my decision, just as it was your decision to accept my offer of a demonstration. Please. Sit down."

The way he said it made Kim's throat feel constricted. She swallowed then sat on her heels. "Yes, Sifu."

"Done playing nurse?" Shego said. "Or are you going to die of old age first?"

"The match will end," Sifu said, "when either of us is unable to fight or declares the other the winner. Is this acceptable?"

"Fine, whatever," Shego said. "Let's just start this already."

Sifu nodded.

Shego ran straight at him, through the huddle of students, but Sifu just side-stepped, took her outstretched arm, and used it to flip her onto her back. Shego flipped up and ran towards him again, but this time, he simply tossed her into the air past him. Shego landed on her hands, flipped, then ignited her plasma.

Kim sprang to her feet. "Shego, no!"

But Sifu held up his hand. "I said could use anything at her disposal," he said. "Sit. Down."

Kim shied back and sat back down without a word.

"Good," Shego said, an edge her voice. "Because I have a lot of stress to burn off." She brought up her arm and fired a blast.

Sifu stood still as the blast struck the floor just in front of his feet. Kim couldn't see his face from where she sat, but she swore she could hear him smiling. "You may wish to aim, should you wish to win this contest."

The snarl that Shego sputtered sounded like a tiger trying to curse. She jumped again, hands alight.

"You win," Sifu said.

He sidestepped as Shego went crashing by him. She rolled, flipped up, and finally stopped.

Her jaw was tight as she turned towards him. "_What_?"

"If we had continued," Sifu said. "I would have been severely injured before losing the match. You are far, far stronger than I, and obviously skilled, if lacking finesse. I am no match."

The students behind him began crying out dissent, but he silenced them with a wave of his hand.

Shego's hands, once extinguished, reignited. "Y-you… you _used me to teach your lessons?_"

Sifu gave her a little bow. "I apologize."

Shego raised her curled fingers towards him like she wanted to strangle him, then threw them down. She strode across the courtyard to the entrance doors and slammed them behind her, barely containing her snarls all the while.

"So," Sifu said, "would you care for another match?"

Kim, still sitting on her heels, bowed a little. "Thank you Sifu, but no."

Sifu beamed. "Now, _xiao túdì_, I must attend to these layabouts before they think I've gone soft on them." He waved towards his students who still looked rather put out that their master lost a match.

"What am I supposed to do?" Kim said.

"Anything that does not involve fighting, jumping, or breaking things," Sifu said.

"But I _like _breaking things," Kim said.

Sifu raised both his eyebrows.

"Yes, Sifu," Kim said. She tried and failed to suppress a grin.

For awhile, Kim sat and watched Sifu throw the students about. Eventually, however, watching wasn't enough. She resisted the urge to sneak in a sparring match herself. And besides, her popped knee from Dementor's lair _was_ still throbbing a bit after her run in Hong Kong. She considered going back to her dorm room, but Shego would come back eventually and in the meantime, she'd have nothing to do. Nothing to do meant thinking, and as Kim well knew, Thinking was Bad.

In the end, she decided to take a hike. Probably not what Sifu would have chosen, but she just couldn't lie in a bed all day, and the path wasn't too strenuous up to the old well. It was a cloudy day, as usual near Beijing, but it was the height of spring, so at least the view would be nice. Plus, the likelihood of running into Shego was low, given the size of the surrounding hills.

Which, of course, meant Kim ran right into her.

Kim groaned from a distance and considered going back up the path the way she came.

The well was nestled near the bottom of a slope, overgrown with bits of grass between the mortar's cracks. A weathered roof and half a bucket hovered over the mouth. Shego leaned over the sturdiest part of the crumbling wall and peered into the depths. She tensed as Kim walked up to the well and leaned over the side.

"It's was a compliment, you know," Kim said to the well.

Shego turned her head towards Kim, then back towards the well.

"He wouldn't have done that if he didn't think you could learn from it," Kim said, still to the well. "He must like you."

Shego huffed. "He your teacher or something?"

Kim flicked a rock off the top of the wall. "Didn't you ever wonder where I learned kung fu?"

"Internet," Shego said. "There's also that new MeTube thing."

"Which _so_ wasn't around in grade school," Kim said. "My parents caught me coming home from a mission one night. I was hurt pretty badly. I told them what was going on, and they did the natural thing: grounded me forever and made it very clear I wasn't to go on any more missions."

"That must have worked out so well for them," Shego said.

Kim smirked. "About as well as you think. As soon as they figured out that I was serious and not going to stop, they sent me here for a year. Officially, I was home schooled for 8th grade."

"The blond baggage must have freaked without you around."

"He's not baggage," Kim said, "and I flew out every few weeks to visit. It wasn't so bad."

Shego fired a tiny bolt of plasma. The two watched as it flew downward, finally scorching the bottom of the entirely dry well.

"What's with the 'two D' thing he keeps saying?" Shego said.

"_Túdì_," Kim said. "It means disciple. It… means more than just 'student'. A lot more."

"Aww," Shego said, her voice dripping with false sugar. "Grandpa has a soft spot for the little Kimmie! Aren't you _proud_?"

"It's not a soft spot!" Kim said. "It's just… it's hard to explain."

"Mm-hm," Shego said.

"Don't start that again."

"Fine, I won't."

Kim looked at Shego out of the corner of her eye. The woman's face seemed strained, like it did whenever she was upset with her blue ex-employer. Kim should still have been furious with her. But…

Kim's gaze turned back to the well. "What's wrong, Shego?" she said. It echoed slightly. "You can't be this upset over someone just using your name. Do you miss —"

Shego sneered. "I do _not_ miss Drakken!" She looked back into the well. "Why is it any of your business, anyway?"

Kim let her shoulders rise with her breath, then fall. "It's not. Forget I asked."

For a long time, they stood like that, hunched over the well and staring into the dark.

"What about you, Kimmie?" Shego said. "Let's ignore what happened before Hong Kong for the moment." Kim scowled but without fire. "You threw up on the side of the road and looked like you were half-dead when you crawled your skinny ass back in. What happened?"

Again, they stood, still hunched over the water. A bird landed on the well, chirped, then flew away again.

"I… realized… something," Kim said, over-enunciating each word as if she was speaking a foreign language.

Shego shifted her weight. Then, when an explanation wasn't forthcoming, "you're going to have to be a _little_ more specific than that, Princess."

Kim half-heartedly stuck out her tongue at her. She felt so tired. "There's…" she considered. "There's something missing. With… in my… relationship with Ron."

Shego looked at her. "Like a second brain?"

Kim sneered and they returned their view to the darkness below.

Kim tapped her finger on the side of the well. Her stomach was starting to do flops again as she started to realize what she had just said. "Shego, when… when I was… when we were…"

Shego twirled her finger between them.

"It was… something," Kim said.

"Your powers of description amaze and bedazzle."

Kim pushed herself off the well with a groan of disgust, turned around and slid down the outer wall of the well until she was sitting. She laughed. "I don't even know what I'm saying. It's completely beyond awkweird and I'm freaking."

Shego didn't move from her position at the well. "You're freaking out pretty bad, yeah."

"You are _not _helping," Kim said.

"Thanks. I try."

Kim tucked her legs up, turned her head until she just could see the fringes of those green-black waves, and rested her head on knees. The thing that protected her ego from the world seemed to have broken inside her. She plunged on ahead, into new waters.

"Shego," Kim said, "I'm not attracted to Ron."

Shego laughed. "Oh, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. Wait. Say it again." She giggled.

Kim pouted. "You're laughing a lot on this trip of ours."

Shego poked her head over the side of the well. "_Jealous_?"

"A little," Kim said. "Shego, it's not just Ron. I'm not attracted to _any_ guy."

Shego seemed to sober a little. "Oh _come_ on!" She repositioned so she was leaning almost over Kim. "What about that Mankey guy you dated? He was cute. I even approved!"

"Because your approval means _so_ much to me," Kim said. "No, not him either. I… had my reasons."

"Oooh," Shego said. "Your _B_-case! She was into him too?"

Kim jerked her head and glared. Then her expression softened and she sighed. "Yes."

That seemed to sober Shego up entirely. "I was kidding."

"What?!"

"Well, I figured it was _something_ to do with her," Shego said, "but I didn't actually think… wait. You were blubbering about us in India before…"

Kim felt her face burning and jerked her head away.

Shego went silent, but Kim didn't dare turn her head back around until the color in her face faded.

"You're kidding," Shego said flatly.

"Why would I joke about this?!" Kim said, without turning her head. "There's nothing! I don't want… _that_ from him or Mankey or — ugh."

Shego was quiet for a minute. "Kimmie, some people just aren't wired for sex. There's plenty of couples that spend a happy lifetime without the horizontal tango thing going on."

Kim nodded. "I know. I've met so many different people, Shego. I know… but…" She trailed off.

"But… you _do_ need it," Shego finished.

Kim stayed still, then shrugged noncommittally. She focused on an uninteresting rock to keep her head turned.

"Lemmie ask you something then, Cupcake," Shego said.

Kim scowled at the nickname, but stayed still.

"When I substituted as Ms. Go… well… why did you have a picture of me in your locker this whole time?"

A twig snapped behind a cluster of shrubs. Shego and Kim jumped to their feet and faced the noise, but then Ron stepped out from behind the bush.

"S-sorry," Ron said. He held up a leafless branch. "Uh, lawn… trimming. Ha ha."

Slowly, it dawned on Kim what Ron must have heard. Her eyes widened.

"Ron," she said.

Ron sighed and tossed aside the branch. "I'm gonna just… head back to the school, alright?"

"Ron, wait!" Kim said. She jerked forward, glanced back towards Shego — who had turned away from the proceedings — then ran after him.

Ron took quick strides away from the well. Between the hill and Kim's hurt knee, it was a good minute before she caught up.

"Ron, please!" Kim said as she grabbed his arm and jerked him around.

Tears were threatening to escape his eyes and he seemed to be chewing his lip.

"I didn't mean for you to hear that," Kim said. "Not like that."

"I followed you when you left," Ron said as if he didn't quite hear her. "I was worried, but… I'm sorry, I know I shouldn't have —"

"Don't be stupid," Kim said.

"But you know… this?"He gestured to them and to the hill that hid the well from sight. "I-it's fine, Kim. It's… it really is okay."

Kim made no effort to look reassured.

"Look, KP… I've always just… this is so stupid to say!" He said it more to himself than Kim. "Why didn't anyone tell me this was so stupid to say?" He hopped a little and sighed. "KP. Kim. I've always been worried that maybe… maybe I wasn't good enough for you or — no, no. Let me finish. — or maybe something was wrong somehow. I figured I was just being stupid, you know? Who would question being with someone like you? But… we've been best friends forever Kim. We'll keep being best friends. Always be there for each other, remember?"

Kim gave a tremulous little nod.

Ron nodded in return. "If this is what makes you happy, then I'm all for it." A tear slid down his cheek. "But… do you really…" He jerked his head towards the hill where the old well disappeared.

A tear slid down Kim's own cheek. "I don't know."

"Listen…" Ron said, "I'm going to go to Yamanouchi in the morning."

"Ron, you don't have to! Who says I'm even breaking up with you?" Kim regretted it as soon as she said it.

"So you're just planning on stringing me along?" It wasn't an accusation; they both knew Kim would never do that. That didn't mean it didn't hurt to hear him say that.

"Of course not," Kim said gently. "But what if I'm still figuring things out?"

"You sounded pretty certain, Kim," Ron said. He ran a hand through his hair. "Look, it's not just that. The other students here don't care too much for Monkey Style. I figured I could go and rest up just as easily in Japan while learning some more ninja stuff. I didn't say anything because I just… didn't want to leave you, but… maybe it's better that I go anyway."

"Ron, no!" Kim said. "I could use my best friend right now."

"But you don't need your ex," Ron said. Kim shrunk back. "I'll come back if you need me, KP, but I need to do this for me, too. So for now…" He took her hands in his for a moment, then stepped to the side, let their hands slip from each other, and walked away.

**-o0O0o-**

"You have been very quiet," Sifu said, taking a sip from his cup.

Kim sipped from her tea cup to delay answering. Across the room stood Sifu's floor-to-ceiling shelf of music records. Kim found it odd that she so rarely heard him play any. She opened her mouth to ask about that but —

"You're avoiding the question," Sifu said.

Kim deflated. "I just don't know if I'm doing the right thing," she said.

The ceiling fan creaked while they sipped. Kim occupied herself with making little ripples appear in her tea.

"However long it takes to work out," Sifu said, "you may stay. This will always be a home for you. Along with your friend and girlfriend."

Kim choked. She held up her hand when Sifu started to rise, doubled over, and coughed until her throat hurt. "She's not — we're not — "

"Oh," Sifu said. He eased back into his seat. "I apologize, _túdì_. I assumed too much."

Kim pushed the murderous cup away from her. "Why would you think that? Why would you even think I was into… you know, girls?"

"Whenever we had a group demonstration, your eyes always went to the prettiest girl in the group."

"That's… direct," Kim said. "But that was just because they were girls! I was watching those I could emulate."

Sifu inclined his head. "As you say. Although my assumption about the nature of your relationship may have also had to do with where your eyes went when you were _behind_ those pretty girls."

Kim flushed red.

"There are other things," Sifu said with a smile. "Would you like me to list them?"

"No!" Kim said. "No, Sifu, thank you, but… no."

"So how do you feel, _xiao túdì_?" Sifu said.

"I don't know," Kim said. "I feel… empty."

Sifu favored her with an amused expression and picked up his cup. Kim jerked away from the tiny table as tea splattered all over it. Sifu tilted the cup further and further over until it was empty, set it down in the puddle that was still trickling down the side, and poured new tea into it as if this was as normal as breathing.

"Old tea," Sifu said. Then he couldn't seem to help it; he grinned and perked a brow.

"That," Kim said, "was the most obvious, hit-me-over-the-head metaphor I have ever seen." She sat back down. "Thank you, Sifu."

"Fo'shizzle."

And like a wondrous plague, Kim grinned too.

Kim eventually left Sifu's room and walked on the courtyard stone where a few students were still straggling before bed. The sun had set less than an hour ago, but Kim knew the students would be up before dawn; maybe her guest status would exempt her from the 4:30am wake up call.

She entered the guest dorm where Shego lazed across her bed, apparently reading a French fashion magazine. Her backpack laid open at the foot of her bed. Kim spared her a glance, but Shego studiously ignored her.

That was just fine with Kim. She kicked off her shoes, flopped onto her bed, and fell asleep within a minute.

That night, Kim dreamed of a yellow hare jumping down a rabbit hole, a green queen of hearts, and a pair of startling neon emerald eyes floating above a wide Cheshire grin.

And still asleep, she cuddled into her covers and smiled.

* * *

_**A/N**__: Alternative titles include "Emotional Whiplash" and "This Chapter is Real as Fuck."_

_You know what's fun? The fact that none of you know quite what type of writer I am. Am I trickster writer? Do I have a thing for tragedy? Perhaps I'm more straight and narrow and simply like character interaction? Am I going to meet your expectations or completely destroy them? Mwhahaha. Oh what fun we will have together, dear reader. What fun indeed._

_Side note, am I the only one bothered by the whole dual gender thing with blond/blonde? Blond never looks correct to me. France, baby, I love you, but girl, we need to talk about your gendering of words we steal. Because English users are far too lazy to actually pick one on their own, obviously._


	10. In a Word

**Chapter 10 - In a Word**

* * *

That morning, Kim woke up with a single thought echoing through her mind.

_UNDO! UNDO! UNDO!_

She jumped out of bed, still dressed in the same clothes she had on the day before, ran barefoot outside, across the courtyard, and threw open a door in the boy's dormitory.

It was empty. Ron's backpack was gone.

She ran back over, nearly kicked her door in, grabbed her Kimmunicator that had fallen out of her pocket, ran back outside amid Shego's yells, and checked the Kimmunicator. Not even a _cellular_ signal. She silently cursed the Lowardians for destroying all the geosynchronous satellites.

That was when Kim glanced up and realized that the skies decided it was to be a rare, sunny day… and it was already past noon.

She ran again. She didn't even try to open the front gates and instead, bounced between the walls in a corner until she could grab the roof, flip over, and down the other side. She barely felt the rocks under her feet or saw the shrubs she jumped over. It wasn't until 20 minutes later that she arrived at the cusp of a hill and saw the road, the blue car with a dark yellow strip around it, and Ron crawling into it.

"RON!" She bellowed.

He jerked back, then gave her a little wave before crawling back in and closing the door. The taxi pulled away.

Kim ran down the hill and up another one, but by the time she reached the peak, it was too late.

Ron was gone.

Kim fell to her knees. The Kimmunicator pinged that it had a signal, but Kim didn't feel like calling anymore; Ron had left without even saying good-bye.

Something crunched behind her, but Kim didn't look up.

"Hey," Shego said.

"Go away," Kim said.

Instead of listening to this excellent and altogether reasonable order, however, Shego knelt beside her. She was dressed in the same white tank top and loose fitting pants as Kim's. The white looked odd on her green skin.

"This talk thing is beginning to be habit forming," Kim said listlessly.

"It's an addiction," Shego said. "Er…" She coughed into her fist. "So why are getting cold feet about the boy toy now?"

"Is this how it's going to be?" Kim said. "Are you my new councilor now?"

Kim waited. She watched the little blue and yellow cab get further and further away until it followed a bend and finally popped out of sight.

"You're not going to leave until I answer, are you?" Kim said.

"Probably not," Shego said.

Kim didn't take her eyes off the spot where the cab had disappeared. "Why can't you just leave me alone?"

"Because if you're not on the top of your game," Shego said, "I might lose my chance to get some payback."

Kim tried to laugh but it came out more like a trembling puff.

"You know," Shego said, "if you actually took the time to look around, you might have done something different." Before she could explain further, Shego got up and walked back towards the school. "You know," she said, pausing, "one of the students saw my idiot brothers in Beijing yesterday. You probably shouldn't stay out here for long or you might be seen."

Kim didn't move to watch her go. She still stared at that bit of road disappearing into the hillside. Finally, however, she got ready to leave, and noticed something new. Sitting on the ground were a pair of black shoes. On top of the shoes laid a letter with her name written in Ron's hand.

Kim picked it up in a tremulous hand and unfolded it.

**-o0O0o-**

_KP,_

_Sorry about this. Did I ever mention I always thought it really kinda silly when girls would write letters to people they could just talk to in high school? Well, now I get it. Although, I may have to ask you to burn this before it falls into the wrong hands and is used as blackmail or gossip fuel. I couldn't figure out how to get a letter to self-destruct. Remind me to ask Joe the Janitor later._

_Anyway. I wanted to say that I __**do**_ _love you. And I know you love me like a best friend should. But I also know this really wasn't working out for you. You'd probably never let me get the words out if I tried to tell you this, but I'm not the __-guy-_ _person for you. You were never really that into me. I __-was-_ _-am-_ _was wild about you, Kim. Or I thought I was. I don't know. It always felt… weird. I don't know why you stayed with me. Maybe you just wanted to keep from hurting my feelings. Maybe you don't even know why yourself._

_But you'll see. In a few days, we'll be back together and doing our thing! Boo-yah! The unbeatable Possible/Stoppable team is back in action! And… whatever you decide with… whatever, I'm behind you 110% and so is Rufus._

_Always there for each other,_

_Ron_

_PS - Sorry about not waking you up to say good-bye, but I figured you needed the rest if you were sleeping in, and I'd see you again soon anyway. Don't be mad at me?_

**-o0O0o-**

Kim hugged the letter to her chest and cried. It was getting easier to cry lately. The tears flowed easily and each carried a little of her pain. A little of her loss. Some splashed onto the letter and she held it away from her.

The spot where the car had disappeared didn't seem quite as bad.

Kim sniffled and felt a smile tugging at her lips. Her stomach growled. Then she kicked her feet out; brushed off the bits of rock, dirt, and plant matter that were stuck to them; and pulled on the shoes.

About an hour walk later, she was back in the compound. There was an odd thumping noise she couldn't place. The students were practicing in the courtyard, however, unalarmed, so she decided to ignore it and, instead, made a beeline for her dorm. Shego wasn't there. She walked to her backpack and started to fish out one of the energy bars that Ron always packed for them on missions… when she noticed the plate sitting on her nightstand. A stir fry of pork and vegetables over a bed of white rice. It was almost completely cold but still better than an energy bar. She sat on the edge of her bed and scarfed it down.

Her plate clean, she took it to the common room that was used as a dining hall. A couple students dressed in colored tee-shirts were washing the day's dishes from lunch. They took her plate with a respectful nod.

But that thumping from earlier was louder than ever. In fact…

Kim left the common room, wheeled around from the two large double doors, and went to Sifu's room.

As soon as she opened the door, she was blasted with music with the bass turned up far too high.

"I can't believe you have MC Honey's entire discography on vinyl!" Shego was saying. Or shouting.

"These beats from MC Honey are truly phat." That… that was Sifu.

"Right?! Check this one out. It's her single from her upcoming album. Not released yet, but I managed to snag it while I was in their studio."

The music cut out and Kim took another jittery step into the room.

"Oh hey Miss Perfect," Shego said as she plugged an audio jack into her MP3 player. "Your sifu and I were just sharing our mutual love for hip-hop. Isn't that right, Ding-man?"

"Word."

"I mean, look at these!" She strode over to the shelf with all the music records as the song from her MP3 player began to play on Sifu's oversized speakers. "MC Honey, Half-Pence, Kay-X, Lil Jane, N&amp;N… for an old hermit living in the mountains, you have a kickin' vinyl collection."

"Delivery service is the shit," Sifu said.

Kim made a small choking noise.

"If you're going to need the Heimlich," Shego said, "you're gonna need to step outside where one of the students can find you because I'm not doing it."

Kim opened her eyes so wide it almost hurt. She made jerky movements over to Sifu, like a windup toy soldier, raised her hands, and started groping his face.

He smiled pleasantly under her fingers. She dropped her hands.

"You're actually Sifu, Sifu?" Kim said.

"I would appear be, yes," Supposedly Sifu said.

"So… you two are… bonding?"

"_Please_," Shego said.

"Just chillax, shorty," Impostor Sifu said.

"Uh, yeah, don't overdo it out, pops," Shego said.

"I think I need to sit down," Kim said. She felt very lightheaded all of a sudden and promptly collapsed into the couch.

"I believe she is, ah, broken," Sifu said.

"We totally broke her!" Shego said. They bumped fists.

"Just stop," Kim whined.

Both Sifu and Shego laughed.

"You _are_ bonding!" Kim said in her whiniest of voices.

Sifu handed her a cup in apology. "Tea?"

Kim took the tea and drank while Shego went through his record collection. They finished the pot of tea and Sifu made another while MC Honey played. Unfortunately for Kim, Sifu didn't seem to be a pop fan. They were halfway through the second pot of tea when Sifu had to teach, leaving Kim and Shego laying on the couch and floor respectively. The light conversation that had seasoned their impromptu hangout session fell silent.

Kim took a tiny gulp of tea to try and ease the tension, but it only served to make it worse.

Shego had repositioned herself so her back was resting against the foot of the couch and her head lolled backwards, resting on the seat. Her eyes were closed.

The seconds ticked by.

"This is silly!" Kim said. "We've talked lots of times in the past."

Shego blinked away the light. "What are you talking about?"

"T-the silence," Kim said. "The… awkward silence?"

Shego shrugged. "I was just resting my eyes. It's not like I have anything to talk about." She leaned back again and closed her eyes. "Sounds like _someone_ does, though."

Kim recovered quickly for once. "Again with the councilor thing."

"Technically, I _did_ take psychology for my degree, you know," Shego said. "Of course, I don't _remember_ any of it." She peaked a glance back to the door. "So he taught you everything you know, huh?"

"One day," Kim said, "you're going to have to tell me how you got that degree."

"How else does one _get_ a degree?" Shego said.

"I remain unconvinced you didn't steal it."

"Avoiding," Shego singsonged.

Kim groaned and shook her head. "He didn't teach me everything. He _did_ teach me about 16 different styles of kung fu, though."

Shego made a low whistle. "He's a grandmaster in all that?"

"Oh no." Kim laughed. "He's barely a master in any style, actually."

"… you're kidding."

"Nope," Kim said. "He doesn't believe in learning anything to the point where he has to dedicate his life to it; he knows about 50 different Chinese martial arts and wushu styles, though, even some older styles that are supposedly extinct. He's like walking martial arts museum."

"Keep talking," Shego said. "I might actually start to like him."

"You have to had learned from someone similar," Kim said. "You know lots of martial arts. Did Hego hire a trainer for you?"

Shego laughed without humor. "Like Hego would ever. He said that that powers were enough to keep any superhero safe by themselves and we didn't need to reply on such 'primitive'," she made air quotes, "forms of fighting. No, I mostly learned from MMA fighters. Drakken paid for 'em." She rolled her head to look at Kim. "But back to you, Miss Perfect; if Wei Ding over here didn't teach you everything you know, who else taught you?"

"I traveled around every summer and winter break to learn styles from all over the world," Kim said. "I learned Krav Maga from some military guys in Israel who owed me a favor. I went to Japan last summer with Ron and learned a few different ones, including even a little Kendo and Kyūdō." She looked up at the ceiling and began ticking off items on her fingers. "Savate in France, Kalaripayattu in India, Taekwondo in Korea, Sambo in Russia —"

Shego held up her hand. "Stop! Stop." She rubbed her temples. "What's with your family? A rocket scientist, brain surgeon — those doppelgangers are who knows what — and you're… what, the martial scientist? And you know you don't have to _go_ to the origin country to learn, don't you?"

"Yeah, but there's nothing like learning in the culture that made it," Kim, said. "Like in Brazil. Actually taking part in a Brazilian _roda_ is nothing like anywhere else."

Shego held up her hand again and gave Kim a look of disbelief. "You know capoeira."

"Well, yeah," Kim said. "What's wrong with that?"

"It looks stupid," Shego said.

Kim gave her a sideways glance, then stood, took Shego's hand, and pulled. "Come on."

"What am I, your dog now?" Shego said, but she got up and followed her outside.

Kim walked to the center of the courtyard. Most of the students were still practicing in the far corners while Sifu went over to each group and corrected their forms or gave advice. Kim let go of Shego's hand, pulled out her Kimmunicator, and made a quick call to Wade. Luckily there was a satellite signal. He was slightly puzzled at the request but got her something that would work. The speaker on the device blared to life louder than Sifu's stereo… and Kim's heart skipped.

It was one of the most popular songs sung at her school during _rodas_. It told the story of two _capoeiristas_ that had been on opposite sides of a war. The villages were separated by a tiny valley of sheer cliffs and the two were fighting over the rights to a river. The two people of the story found each other in the valley and decided to create a dance to prove that the two villages could create something beautiful. In the process, the two fell in love. When the war came to a head and both villages met in the valley of what would have been a bloody battle, the pair had danced together in the center of the valley and defeated both villages without bloodshed or leaving a small circle of land they used as their stage. And thus the first _roda _was born. For the first time, Kim realized that the two _capoeiristas_ were never given genders.

"Uh, Princess?" Shego said. She waved. "_Hel-lo_?"

Kim shook her head. "Well what are you waiting for, then?" Kim grinned and tossed the Kimmunicator to the side. She noticed several of the students watching her now, but she ignored them.

"Uh, what are you doing?" Shego said.

Kim gave her a sly smile and dropped into a _ginga; _she hunched over and waded back and forth while her her arms waved in front of her.

"You look ridiculous," Shego said over the music.

A few more students had stopped their practice sessions. Some were laughing.

"Good," Kim said, not stopping, "because you're about to look ridiculous with me."

"I never said I knew capoeira myself," Shego said.

"Yeah you did," Kim said without stopping. "You knew what a _roda_ was. Plus I've seen it; you move like a _capoeirista_ too much to not have been taught. So you're either going to get down here and join me or I'm going to start kicking."

Instead of scowling, Shego raised an eyebrow and the opposite edge of her lips. Then she hunched over like Kim and started to match her movements.

Back and forth, they stepped. Shego quickly got in sync with Kim. Then their eyes locked. They flipped to their left, then back to the right. The _ginga_ kept going for a minute longer… then the game began.

Kim moved first and sent a swirling kick to Shego. Shego just ducked and swept her own legs under Kim, trying to knock her supporting arm down. Kim used her momentum to twist and planted a new hand right behind Shego's sweeping leg while, at the same time, sending her other leg over for another sweeping kick, lower this time. Shego, to Kim's surprise, launched herself into the air off one hand and spun end-over-end once while bringing her foot down in a flawless counter.

On and on it went, each of their moves flowing into the next, triple kicks of increasing speed, and occasional grapples that they both tried to use to their own advantage. Their feet began to plant themselves inside each other's, each new kick drawing closer, each trying to test just how close they could get without hurting the other. Kim rolled under Shego's jumps, and Shego constantly tried to keep Kim off balance. The music grew faster and their movements flowed to match. And the entire time, their eyes were locked on the other's, each trusting the other in their game.

Eventually, Kim's muscles failed and she actually collapsed backwards and pulled Shego with her onto the stone floor of the courtyard with her.

The music stopped. Their eyes were still locked as they panted and let the sweat run off their faces.

Shego grasped Kim's hands and pulled her upright. Kim tilted then found her balance; their hands were still clasped in each other's in a light squeeze. While she had held many _capoeiristas_ hands at the beginning or end of a _roda_, the fact that it was Shego caused her to blush.

Then the clapping started.

The pair let go of each other and turned to find that every single student in the courtyard turned to face them. Sifu ambled up towards them, his hands clapping along with his students.

"That, _túdì_, was an excellent display," he said.

Kim bowed and her blush deepened. "Thank you, Sifu."

"But tell me, is it just… mm, showy?" Sifu said.

"It's actually useful," Kim said.

Sifu looked dubious, but Kim rattled off capoeira's strengths and weaknesses until Sifu finally waved her off.

"Alright, alright," Sifu said. "Perhaps you will teach me or my students what you have learned, hm?"

"Sifu," Kim said chidingly.

Sifu flashed a grin. "Can't blame an old man for trying." He hobbled off and tried to get his students to stop practicing spinning kicks and go back to conditioning training.

"What was that about?" Shego said.

"Oh! Um…" Kim avoided looking at Shego's eyes. "He wants me to inherit the school eventually, but… he knows I can't."

Dinner came shortly afterward, which both Kim and Shego were thankful for. They ate communally with the students but took an entire table to themselves — or at least they did when no one else could manage to get their chopsticks to grasp any of the food before the two women ate it. The two left full of pork, vegetables, fruit, and rice.

Kim checked in with Wade once the satellite signal came back; still no solid leads. He had several rumors, but none could be followed up on yet. Apparently a genius hacker with backdoors into nearly every government and private system in the world was significantly less useful when most of those doors lead to nowhere or were outright destroyed. Kim told him it wasn't that bad and she knew he was doing his very best, but Wade still seemed a little bummed about it when they cut off. Truthfully, Kim was too; she could only do so much waiting around.

Shego had decided to change in the bedroom, though with her back turned; Kim found herself wondering if she should be happy about that or not, then berated herself. Was she really —

"What's your problem?" Shego said. "You look like someone's trying to tear your arm off."

Mentally ordered her face to relax. "It's stupid."

"You wanted to talk earlier," Shego said.

"… why are you doing this?"

"Is that what you wanted to —"

"No," Kim said, "but I do want to know; you've been unusually chatty lately. Like a big sister." Kim bit her tongue too late.

Shego's eye twitched. "Yeah, well, I wouldn't go that far," she said in a grumble.

"Yeah, well," Kim said, "the question stands." Kim leaned back into her bed and glared.

Shego stared at her, impassive. "Fine," she said. "I —"

"And don't say it's because you want me to be at the top of my game!" Kim said.

Shego closed her mouth, then, "what do you want me to say, then?"

"I don't know," Kim said. "The truth?" She sighed. "Shego, I don't want this."

Shego padded over to her own bed and sat down. "When you want to start making sense," she said, "just let me know. …and _why _do I get the feeling I've said that to someone just as annoying as you are?"

"I'm not annoying!"

"Kimmie, you are like every single annoying thing in the world wrapped into one tiny, cute package."

"… 'cute'?"

Shego shrugged. She turned her head to let her hair block her face, but Kim could see the flushed gray on her cheeks. And that was when Kim realized something very dangerous.

She could fluster Shego.

Kim jotted this down in her mental notebook for future reference.

"Look," she said, "I'm just… I'm not weird. I'm normal. Basic. Average. I don't want to be —" but she had to stop as Shego was once again laughing without holding back. "What's so funny?"

"You," Shego said, wiping a tear. "'I'm normal!' Pfft. Please."

"I am!"

"So normal that you save the world as an after-school project," Shego said. "_Yeah_, I can totally see how that's average."

Kim threw herself onto her bed and buried her face into her pillow.

"What's the big deal?" Shego said. A bit of anger had slipped into her voice. "There's nothing abnormal about being gay."

"Why do you seem to care so much?" Kim said, sneering a little. "It's not like you have to deal with it."

Instead of a witty comeback, Shego just glared and pouted a little.

Kim sat up. "Oh. I — you — oh."

"It's nothing to 'deal with'," Shego said. "It just is."

Shego sat like that, glaring, while Kim stared at her knees and fiddled with her thumbs.

"I'm sorry," Kim said. "You can't say it's normal, though."

"It's completely normal!" Shego said. "I'll allow 'uncommon', but it's _normal_. Don't make me repeat the entire conversation with Hego I had after I got a girlfriend."

"You've… had a girlfriend?"

Shego groaned, then exhaled. "Once," she said. "We broke up after I plasma'ed her hair. And don't laugh; it's not funny."

Kim snorted. "It kinda really is."

"It wasn't her head."

Kim blinked, then she winced. "Oh."

"Yeah." Shego's mouth twitched, like she was trying to suppress a smile. She lost. "Okay, it is kind of funny in hindsight, yeah."

Kim suppressed a giggle. "What's funnier is that you're arguing that any part of you is normal. You're usually so… proud to be different."

"I am proud," Shego said. "Average means 'sheep', Kimmie-pie, and I'm not a sheep."

Kim's retort died on her tongue. Instead, she flushed. "It's 'Kimmie-pie', now?"

Shego waved her off. "Don't look too much into it."

"I'll _try_ to contain myself," Kim said through her teeth, though she was smiling. Then, "do you… really think it's okay? It's not… bad or weird?"

"Weird depends on who you ask, Princess, and you're _really _asking the wrong person about what's '_bad'._ But… no."

"So… you're… into women, too?" Kim said.

"Not 'too'," Shego said.

It took Kim a second to process that. "But… you've flirted with guys!" she said. "You even talk about them!"

"I told you; I use them," Shego said. "It's not _my_ fault they're putty in my hands. I use what I got, Cupcake, and what I got is _sexy_."

"Do you _really _have to keep using that nickname?" Kim said, trying very hard to ignore that last comment. "I've filled out a little you know."

"I've noticed." Then, quickly, "come back to me when you outgrow a training bra and we'll talk."

Kim glowered.

"Hey, I just call 'em as I see 'em."

"Doing an awful lot of 'seeing' lately," Kim grumbled.

"What's that?"

"Nothing," Kim singsonged.

Night came too fast and Kim tucked into the covers. Despite being awake for only 8 hours, she was exhausted. She flipped over and stared at the gentle curves in the bed next to her. Thoughts flit through her mind, but in the background, behind a haze of exhaustion.

The next day was relatively uneventful. Shego had disappeared somewhere, and Kim decided against trying to find her. Instead, she roamed the hillsides, taking in the view, and keeping the weight off her knee with a walking stick, despite feeling like it was healed. Sifu talked with her more and even did some light sparring with her to polish her form. She actually did end up teaching the basics of the _roda _and capoeira to the students, after much badgering on their part.

Wade checked every hour or so. The satellite system was getting sketchy; more and more went offline due to lack of power or outright mechanical failure. The skies at night had been filled with shooting stars all over the world. He gave her a few weak leads to follow up on in case the communications went out before he found anything.

The rest of the day went by quickly. Kim was just settling in from dinner as Shego walked in the door.

The Kimmunicator beeped.

Shego gave her a look when Kim hesitated answering. Kim swiped the Kimmunicator and hit the green button on the screen.

"Go, Wade."

"I finally got a bite!" His keyboard clacked loudly. "It's not much of one, but our deadline for communication blackout is closing and it's better than what I gave you. How do you feel about Mon—"

Something exploded. The screen swirled end over end and the speakers squealed. Wade had disappeared from the screen.

"WADE!"

"I'm alright!" Wade said. He righted the camera until it was focused, lopsidedly, on his disarrayed work area. His arm was bleeding. A bit of light streamed into the dark room.

"Wade, what happened?!"

"I don't know!" Wade said. The screen flickered. "The twin's satellite is relaying your connection to me but the satellite trailing in front of it is about to go. I'll get you what info I can —"

"Wade, your arm!"

He glanced down. "I'll get it in a second. It's not as bad as it looks. But the Lowardian tech. It just went… nuts. I was working on a new rocket for your shoes, but it just took off through my roof!" The entire time he talked, he was typing away on a keyboard.

Kim got a sinking feeling in her stomach. "Wade… can you figure out if there's similar occurrences anywhere else in the world?"

"I'll try," Wade said. "Yeah… there are… all the Lowardian tripods have taken off."

"Can you figure out where they're going?"

He nodded.

"… they're all going to Middleton, aren't they?"

A few keyboard strokes. "Actually… they're heading for the middle of the Atlantic."

The knot loosened just a bit… but only a bit. "I don't suppose you can get a visual?"

"Mmmm… actually, yeah!" Wade said. "There's a spy satellite that passed over that area and was taking constant images until it shut down a couple days ago. It might have something. Let me go through the files."

5 minutes later, Wade looked horrified and sent her two images. One was of a large island chain, black as midnight, with some type of complex seated in the center of the largest island. The second…

Kim went limp and collapsed on the bed. "All the invasion drones," she said, "they're still sitting where they crashed when their control ship was destroyed. If most of the world leaders are mind-controlled, they could have ordered they be cordoned off and left alone."

Shego walked around and sat next to her. "Yeah, what's your point, Kimmie?"

Instead of answering, Kim just handed her the Kimmunicator. There, standing in middle of what looked like hundreds of synthodrones, blurry but unmistakable, was Warmonga.

Kim pulled her backpack onto the bed and pulled out her battle suit. As soon as she touched the inside, however, her muscles in her hand twitched uncontrollably. She grasped her hand to stead it.

Her mind whirled, and slowly, more pieces started to fall into place.

"Shego," Kim said, "give me back the Kimmunicator. If Warmonga wants a villain, I'll give her one."

* * *

_**A/N**__: GAH! The letter from Ron was formatted all pretty-like with strikeouts and as a blockquote, but noooo; can't have that. Anyway. The words like -this- are supposed to be struck out, if it wasn't obvious._

_"Do a few chapters in China," I said. "Show just how Kim learned most of her martial arts," I said. Suffice it to say, all the research it took to DO a good story in China ate up my buffer. It's back now, but I did have to make a few corrections in the last chapter. Mostly minor — it should read a lot better now._

_For extra pun, read Sifu's name both eastern and western style; I'd like to think that his school is named The Ding Wei School of Martial Arts. You also have no idea how hard it is not to call him "Sifu Hotman". (Side note: SUPER excited for Korra! Korrasami is real, damnit!)_

_Capoeira is actually very pragmatic and dangerous. People were killing each other in the streets with it with razor blades held in their toes in Brazil back in the day. It's compared to drunken boxing, but that's just showy and has a neat gimmick; it sure paid Jackie Chan's bills, though. I just kinda shudder when someone writes drunken boxing like it's the ultimate martial art ever when it's actually mainly theatrical, so consider this a PSA._

_Keeping on the tradition of me ranting about how utterly broken English is: Soldier. It's supposed to be __**soldjer**__. There's a J sound in there, not an I! Why, when you separated the "i" and "j" glyphs COULDN'T YOU CHANGE TO THE PROPER GLYPH, ENGLISH? Ugh. This is why English is impossible; even the NATIVE speakers don't get it._

_Next chapter, Kim Possible for Villain 2014._


	11. Tainted and Corrupt

**Chapter 11 - Tainted and Corrupt**

* * *

Wade had cut out shortly after their conversation at Sifu's, but once they were over America, the Kimmunicator — which fortunately didn't go haywire with the rest of the Lowardian tech — switched to cellular signals. Wade flashed on screen.

"I've been analyzing the pattern the tripods are being arranged in," he said without preamble.

"And?" Kim said.

"I have no idea what Warmonga is trying to build," Wade said, "but it can't be good. I _did_ manage to calculate how long it'll take to complete; based on the telemetry I'm getting as you fly over America… you're going to have about two hours to stop whatever is going on before the last tripods are in place. From the structure they're forming, I can tell she doesn't need _all _the remaining tripods, but you'll have at least that long."

Kim groaned. "Why am I always on a schedule?"

"If you don't want to be on someone's schedule, Kimmie," Shego said from where she sat strapped into the pilot's seat, "take over the world. Then everyone is on _your_ schedule."

Kim rolled her eyes. "Can you patch me into Ron, Wade?"

Wade shook his head. "He's already past Florida… but he's flying much slower than you are. He'll circle from a safe distance until you managed to destroy the anti-air… _with_ most of his reinforcements. Yori wouldn't come for some reason, though."

Kim frowned. "Nothing to do about it. We'll have to make due."

"Good luck, Kim," Wade said solemnly. The screen blanked out.

Kim hunched over her seat and stared at her knees.

"Hey, look on the bright side," Shego said. "We have the Go Jet and even my lame brothers agreed to help."

"For now!" Hego said from the rear seat — he had pouted about the seating arrangement for most of the flight. "You're coming with us to the authorities when this is all over!"

"Don't respond to that!" Mego said. "She called us lame!"

"Since when are you Miss Sunshine?" Kim said.

Shego's brow furrowed. "Forget I said anything."

The jet hit occasional bits of turbulence, but they were flying so fast, they were like tiny road bumps. It wasn't nearly as fast as her car had been, however, and Kim reluctantly admitted she'd have to compliment the tweebs on their design abilities.

"Shego… when this is all over… what are you going to do?"

Shego leaned and checked some of the dials. "Go back to Drakken, steal some stuff, find barely-a-teen heroes."

Kim crossed her arms. "I was being serious."

"So was I," Shego said.

"Look," Kim said. "I know you keep telling me you're here for this mission only, but after all this time together… maybe we could be, I dunno… friendly?"

Shego spared her a glance with a raised brow.

"You know what I mean!" Kim said.

Shego hit a button and a flexible separator rose between the cockpit and the rear seats. "I'm not going to be your rebound girl."

Kim flushed scarlet. "I was _not_ going to say that!"

"Uh-huh," Shego said. "The red in those cheeks says otherwise. And I'm not going to be your little experiment, either. You can figure out your crap on your own."

"I just wanted to talk!" Kim said, flushing a deeper red.

"Keep telling yourself that, Kimmie."

"You are _so_ impossible!"

"First time I've heard you use that word."

Kim groaned in frustration.

Shego giggled that high pitched, squeaky giggle. Oddly, something inside Kim soothed.

Shego apparently decided for a change of topic. "I still say you should have taken the battle suit, twitchy or no. We barely beat Warmonga before. And that was only because the monkey boy destroyed a ship with their _faces. _It didn't even kill them. Plus I don't think he's up for an encore."

"The plan we have now will be enough," Kim said. "Things will work out. It's only the end of the world."

The rest of the flight passed in relative silence until the sun was high in the sky. They were nearly on top of the island chain — apparently formed when Dr. Drakken tried to create pangaea — when the Go Jet's panels flashed red.

Shego lowered the separator to her brothers, "incoming!" then slowed to a more maneuverable supersonic speed. "Get ready!"

Shego pulled back on the controls. Kim nearly blacked out as Shego outmaneuvered the faster, but less precise missiles. One of the Wegos _did_ black out and the other was frantically fanning him.

Kim jerked around her seat. "We need him awa —"

The rear of the jet exploded into a blaze of fire. Massive decompression ripped away everything not nailed down. The sheering had stopped short of taking any of their crew with it, but only just.

"Our gliders!" A Wego said. The other blinked rapidly and shook his head.

"Plan B!" Kim said.

They all unstrapped, ran for the rear of the half-jet, and jumped. The burning hull fell away behind them as the air caught and slowed them. They were luckily near the main structure when they bailed. Kim stayed in free fall long enough to position herself, then pulled her ripcord. The others pulled theirs behind her.

A moment later, the guns turned on them.

"Drop!" Kim said. Then, "Shego!"

Hego dropped from his chute just as the lasers tore it to ribbons and landed heavily into the stone paths that had been carved outside the base, ending up waist deep in newly formed rubble. The Wegos duplicated themselves until they formed a precarious tower to the ground, then reabsorbed themselves back down. Hego corrected their lean until they were low enough to separate safely. Mego simply shrunk until his terminal velocity was far lower, then unshrunk when he was close to the ground and had Hego catch him.

Kim waited until the last second, then dropped out of her parachute into Shego's waiting arms. Kim threw her arms around her neck, haphazardly gave her an unthinking kiss on the cheek, and tucked herself into a ball as Shego released her chute.

Shego hit the ground in a roll and the carved stone flooring cracked underneath her. Kim let go and slid onto the ground, while Shego slowed her momentum with a plasma hand melting 5 long trenches along the flooring.

They regrouped and didn't have a second to spare as synthodrones ran down the steps. Hego took point and started tearing through them. Shego swept in and out around him, sending plasma and the odd kick into the drones. Kim took the rear with the Wegos and Mego, fending off the stray drone that escaped Hego's and Shego's wall of destruction.

"Really!" Kim said as another drone melted. "Where did she get synthodrones?!"

"Smarty Mart," one of the Wegos said. "I saw them on sale after the Lowardian attack."

"Of course," Kim said sardonically.

They made their way to an intersection. Shego and Kim split off on their own while the Wegos and Mego went with their older brother.

"You sure you don't want one of us to come with you?" one of the Wegos shouted.

"I'm sure!" Kim said. "We can handle ourselves. Stick to the plan!"

They nodded and speed off for the first SAM nest.

"Come on, Princess," Shego said in her usual chiding drawl.

"Right behind you," Kim said. "Try not to slow down, hm?"

Shego huffed. "Just keep your eyes on the bolt brains, hm?"

They tore through the drones like butter. There still was no sign of Warmonga, but they continued to snake their way up the path until they arrived at their target. The eastern SAM cluster.

"Keep them off me!" Shego said.

"Got it!"

Kim stood her ground at a bottleneck while the synthodrones came at her in hordes. Kim circled, ducked, punched, and kicked as well as she could, but there were too many of them. She abandoned pacing herself. Her moves became desperate, jerky, and barely ahead of the drones.

"Shego!"

An explosion blasted Kim forward, off her feet.

A flare of green and Shego was swirling around Kim's fallen form, felling several drones in each swipe. Kim launched to her feet to help, but Shego had definitely slowed from her earlier pace.

"Doing okay?" Kim said.

"Just call them in!"

"Gotta wait for —"

The ground under their feet shook and nearly knocked Kim back off her feet again.

"That'd be —"

"— Hego." Kim pulled the flare gun from where it hung on her waist and fired it high into the air, then tossed the gun.

"How long?" Shego said as she redirected a synthodrone into another.

"5 minutes!"

Those 5 minutes couldn't come fast enough. Shego and Kim were losing ground. To _synthodrones_. It was humiliating. Then, on a rocket powered backpack, came the horrified screams. Ron whirled through the air, seemingly unable to choose a direction until, by chance, he planted a kick into one synthodrone so hard, it blew out it's head, then landed two more kicks into another pair before switching off the jetpack and skidding along the ground. He flipped to his feet and joined the fray.

"Booyah!"

"Saved by the buffoon," Shego said. "I am _never _going to live this down, am I?"

"Nope," Kim said.

It was far easier to fight with another person covering their backs. They started to gain ground again.

"Where'd Warmonga get synthodrones?" Ron said.

"Been there, said that," Kim said.

"Can we break this up, ladies?" Shego said.

"Can you handle yourself on your own, Ron?" Kim said. "Shego and I are both a little worn, so —"

"No problem," Ron said. "Some of our backup that came with me met up with Hego and the rest are on the other side keeping the rest of these guys off your back."

"Alright. Meet you in the middle?"

Ron flashed her a thumbs up and tore into a line of drones. Shego and Kim took another fork. The drones were thinner, but still seemingly endless.

They eventually made their way to the building itself. Shego used another burst of plasma to make a hole large enough for them to jump through. They landed into a wide open room lit by round lights buried in the ceiling high overhead. The room was made mostly of stone and didn't look like one of the Lowardian insta-bases, but in the far corner stood a huge computer full of high tech, rather alien-looking machinery. Numbers — at least what Kim thought were numbers — whirled at the top and there was a diagram of what looked like several tripods linked together that slowly moved. There was no sign of Warmonga.

"Did she leave it empty?" Kim said.

"Warmonga is the _wonder-kid_ of strategy," Shego said.

"I am no child, insect!"

Warmonga rose up from a panel on the floor near the computer. She held her staff in a new metallic arm and held a look of crazed fury.

Shego tapped her cheek. "Points for the entrance," she said, "but 'insect'? Really, that's the best you can come up with?"

"Whatever you're trying to do, Warmonga," Kim said, "we're going to stop you. … where's Warhok?"

"You do not speak his name!" She leveled her staff at them and fired a white beam of energy. Kim and Shego rolled out of the way but — tired and slowed — the beam caught Shego in her heel. Shego's entire body turned white very briefly as she finished her jump and steam rose off her body.

"Shego!"

But Shego simply stood straight and looked at her hands. "Uh, was that supposed to do something?"

"Frackle!" Warmonga said. "Warmonga will destroy you both!"

Warmonga ran at them with deep, thundering footfalls. Kim flipped out of the way, but Warmonga caught up in a two quick strides and landed a punch right in her stomach. Kim sailed backwards and crashed to the ground. Warmonga was already on top of her again as she rose. Shego planted her feet into the side of Warmonga's face, unbalancing her. Kim swept her legs under her and Warmonga almost tipped over. Then she righted herself and landed another punch into Kim and a heavy kick that sent Shego sailing all the way to the other end of the lair.

"And now you're Warmonga's!" She fired the white laser out of her staff point blank.

Kim felt an odd tingling in her skull and steam rose off her body, but nothing else happened.

"It's a mind control beam, isn't it?" Kim said, picking herself up off the floor. "I figured it out on the way here: It's useless against certain mindsets, right? That's why it wouldn't work on the villains or Dr. Bortel. And guess what? I've switched sides." And despite her battered state, she grinned.

Warmonga roared something incoherent then raised her staff, then a green blast of energy hit her back and staggered her.

Shego sneered. "You'd think you'd learn not to turn your back on me by now."

Warmonga picked Kim up and threw her at Shego. They collapsed in a heap. Kim's head was spinning. Warmonga closed the gap in seconds and Kim was still too dazed to fully disengage herself from Shego. Warmonga hauled Kim roughly up and hit Shego with the blunt end of her staff in the side of the head. Shego went flying into a wall, which cracked, then collapsed to the floor mumbling about a truck. Kim tried to cry out, but Warmonga shoved Kim by her neck against the wall.

"Victory," Warmonga said.

"Yeah, yeah," Kim said. She still heard fighting outside. "How'd you do it this time?"

Warmonga looked at her. "You wish to hear my plan of how I defeated you?"

Kim nodded tiredly. "It's how it's done."

"A strange custom." Warmonga considered, then brightened. It seemed the idea of gloating agreed with her. "Very well. I will honor this Earth custom before taking my revenge."

Kim favored her with a dull expression as she listened. She focused on trying to breathe. She wished Warmonga didn't block her view of where Shego landed.

"When your blond battle mate threw us at our ship, Warhok —" She choked. "— Warhok sacrificed himself to protect me. I only lost my arm." She gestured to her metal replacement that held Kim to the wall. The shouts outside the lair were getting louder, but when an explosion rocked the base, it seemed distant, weak. "I will enjoy tearing his body apart for that. I went to your battle mate's residence afterward to find a means for revenge. I found a strange device. My staff scanned and created mind altering technology. It allowed me to control your world's war leaders. I tried to dispose of the false Great Blue's battle mate first, but _you_ interceded."

"Then you just waited until the satellite system was offline to do… what?"

Warmonga's face darkened. "For your planet's treachery and humiliation," she said, "I am going to destroy it. Behold!" She pressed a button on her metal arm. The screen in the far corner switched to a real time image of the device being formed in orbit. The tripods were using their own parts to form a giant… ray? "Once this is complete in mere moments, I will obliterate your planet from the star charts!"

"… you're going to Doom Sun us?" Kim said.

"I do not know this word."

"Warmonga, you don't have to do this," Kim said. She wanted to shout, but the hand around her throat was too tight. "I'm sorry for what happened to Warho—"

Warmonga's grip on her throat tightened. "_Do not speak his name!_ You do not understand! Warhok wanted a return to the old ways! The warrior ways. We were to enslave your filthy planet and use it to bring Lowardia back to it's rightful place. Instead you _murdered_ him!"

Kim tried to talk, but only tiny choking noises came out. She pulled on Warmonga's grip but her fingers wouldn't budge.

Warmonga raised her staff again. "Warmonga strikes this blow for Lowardia. For Warhok!"

Then her head exploded.

Kim slumped to the floor. When the smoke cleared, Warmonga's hair was little more than frazzled, but she looked livid. Kim followed her gaze with a smirk. She could almost hear the glorious sound of bagpipes.

"You know, lassy," Duff Killigan said, "I don't much appreciate what you've done ta me green. But ya look like a good replacement yourself. FORE!"

Several more golf balls exploded unto her upper body. Warmonga ran through them and smashed the floor where Duff had been a second ago. She took two more steps before something rammed into her head and _latched on_.

"Do you know how hard it is to find decent tea after your little invasion?" Monkey Fist said.

Kim gapped. "Monkey Fist? But… how?"

Apparently, Ron had been right behind Monkey Fist. He helped Kim to her feet. "Tell you later, Kim, but for now—"

"MONKEY NINJAS ATTACK!" Monkey and Ron bellowed together.

An explosion rocked the lair. A massive group of monkeys poured into the lair from the newly made hole. Kim recognized the group that pledged itself to Ron all those years ago, with the newest addition, Chippy, leading the charge in a dress. Another, larger group, was likely Monkey Fist's own monkey ninjas.

Then Ron made a loud, chirping noise.

Behind the monkeys crawled in several giant cockroaches, also lead by a personal friend of Ron's, Roachie.

"Drones!" Warmonga said as she fell back.

Synthodrones rose from the floor. Then another explosion from the opposite side of the lair went off and several Hench Co henches pooled into the room.

Kim kneeled over Shego and helped her up just as Shego was coming to.

"Looks like Señor Senior, Senior came through with that rental," Kim said.

"This is insane," Shego said, holding her head. Kim was rather gratified with the awe in her voice.

"You have no idea," Proffesor Dementor said. "_DO YOU KNOW HOW HARD IT IS TO CARRY THIS_?" He held what looked like a giant Gatling laser and waded into battle, peppering the drones.

"Yoo-hoo! Monty sweetums!" DNAmy said as Gorhinos pooled into the room. "I'm he-re!"

Kim faintly heard a scream of horror over the din of battle.

"Are you sure," said a familiar voice, "I can just zap these little hench people?"

"Go nuts!" Ron said to Electronique. "They're all robots anyway. It's all part of your, uh, early parole program!"

"Well, alright!" Then Electronique sent several bolts of electricity into the crowd.

"YOU! YOU KILLED MY BATTLE MATE!"

Warmonga had finally spotted Ron. She knocked aside roaches, took several laser and electrical blasts to the chest, and sent a dozen henches sprawling. All without slowing down once.

Kim intercepted her, only to be batted aside. Shego attempted to assist, but was caught by a massive group of synthodrones that slowed her down. Even more were pooling into the lair. Despite their reinforcements, they were outnumbered.

Warmonga took out an entire support column with a single swipe of her hand. Ron barely dodge the brunt of it, but was went sprawling.

Kim ran up, jumped, and planted her feet into Warmonga's back, but it was like kicking a stone wall. Before she had a chance to land, Kim was slammed into the floor by Warmonga's enormous heeled boot. It pressed into Kim's chest.

"Die slowly," Warmonga said.

"Hey Tiny!" Shego said.

Warmonga twisted. Shego stood with her hands on her hips, surrounded by syntho-goo.

"There's only one green bitch of the universe," Shego said, "and you're not her!" A jet of green plasma flew forward and caught Warmonga in the stomach. It only lasted a few seconds, but it was the longest sustained blast Kim had ever seen Shego use; longer even than the few she used during the Little Diablo incident. Warmonga flew into the far wall, pulverized much of the rock, and fell to the ground. The blast obviously took it's toll on Shego; she collapsed onto her hands and knees, covered in sweat.

Kim shakily rose to her feet. Her vision wavered; her breathing was short and rapid. Their forces were dwindling, being knocked out or disabled by the endless hordes of drones. Even Monkey Fist and Ron were barely holding their own, encircled by the purple machines. Professor Dementor was backed into a corner, spraying laser into any drone that got too close, but he was otherwise trapped. Hego and the others must have still been keeping back even more drones from showing up.

Warmonga had already recovered in a new fit of rage. In her hand she held the tech she must have taken from Ron's home.

"Oh, a Reverse Polarizer!" Electronique said. There was far, far too much joy in that voice. "Quite dangerous wouldn't you —" A red light surrounded her, then she collapsed as steam rose off her. "You _dare _use my own inventions against me?!"

But Warmonga didn't even seem to notice that Electronique was hit.

Ron looked over. "Didn't you just _improve_ the Attitu—"

Electronique shrieked and sent bolt after bolt of electrical energy towards Warmonga. Warmonga deflected them all with her staff, crossed the lair, and knocked Electronique out with a blow to her head. Then she rounded on Kim.

Kim cartwheeled, jumped and ducked around red and white beams from the Reverse Polarizer and the staff. No matter how hard she tried, however, she couldn't get close enough to counterattack. Worse, she was losing ground. Shego was too busy fighting off new waves of synthodrones to help her. Then she heard a most terrible thing.

"Booyah-hahahahaha!"

Kim turned. "Ron!" And in her shock, Kim felt something impact her back. She fell forward. Steam rose from her arms. Then she got an idea. She stood, turned to Warmonga, and began to walk towards her enemy.

Warmonga, it seemed, was in a gloating mood and let her approach.

"Yes, little insect," Warmonga said, "come bow to your master before Warmonga crushes you!"

There was a pause.

"… you don't know how it works, do you?"

Warmonga looked at the black helmet in her hand, then back to her foe. "Of course I do! I based the technology in my staff off of it. You're now under _my_ control!"

"It's so wonderful," Kimberly said in a flawless Queen's English accent, "when plans work out, isn't it darling?"

Before Warmonga could process this, Kimberly leapt into the air. Warmonga tried to grab her, but Kimberly clamped her hands on Warmonga's outstretched wrists, then used them as leverage to kick into Warmonga's sternum until she felt something crack. She flipped over Warmonga's head like a trapeze artist, and clapped her hands several times over Warmonga's ears until they started to bleed. Then she swung down, grabbed Warmonga's pony tail, and rapidly sent her heels into Warmonga's spine. Another crack, and Kimberly let go, dropped to the floor, then springboarded off her hands to send both her heels straight up between the alien's legs. Apparently, their anatomy was quite similar in this respect too; Warmonga fell to her knees.

But Kimberly wasn't done. She spun for momentum and send kick after kick into Warmonga's ribs, and when Warmonga finally turned around to defend herself, Kimberly sent a spinning kick into into her teeth.

A green bolt of plasma shot between them.

Shego stood with a raised hand, finally free of the drones for a moment. "That's enough!"

_It's not _nearly _enough_, Kimberly thought. Already, Warmonga was starting to rise.

Shego shot another tiny plasma bolt between them when Kimberly raised her foot. She turned and glared, but Shego had finally been surrounded by more synthodrones.

_You're going to suffer,_ Kimberly decided, _just as soon as I'm done with the other bloody green b—_

"CONSTRUCTION COMPLETE," Warmonga's wrist blared.

Warmonga, missing most of her teeth and coughing up an off-red blood, began to laugh. "Fools. Your planet is doomed."

Kimberly whirled on her, but Warmonga already disappeared through a panel even as Kimberly dove for her.

The sound of a rocket firing marked her departure.

"Ronald!" Kimberly said, pointing across the room. "Get to the controls and stop whatever is happening or I will beat you within an inch of your life with your own spinal column!"

The blond boy quickly jumped on the heads of several synthodrones, landed in front of the control station, and typed away at a speed that would make Wade almost jealous. Kimberly fought her way across the lair towards him, then held off the drones until —

"Done!" he said.

A moment later, the base rumbled under their feet.

"What was that?" Kimberly said. She severed a synthodrone's head with a heel kick. "I told you to stop it!"

"I did, you fool!" Ronald said, still at the controls. "I disabled the clearing mechanism. I couldn't do anything else! _She_ didn't check to see if the pathways were clear and fired anyway!

"She blew herself up," Kimberly said, her voice rising with her accent.

"Oops."

Kimberly growled. She had wanted the alien — and the destructive device — intact; who knows what could have been learned by dissecting it _and _her. She kicked the nearest drone into a group, then turned, reached out, and cut off Ronald's airflow with her fingers. "I told you to stop whatever was happening. I did not say to blow her sky high!" Kimberly shoved him away from her and returned to the drones.

Ronald coughed and rubbed his throat. "I wasn't my fault, Kimberly Ann Possible!"

Kimberly turned and glared during a lull in the fighting; he shied back. "Confirm that she is dead, then stop these drones," Kimberly said, still in her accent, "and put them under my command."

"Oooor," Ronald said, "we'll put them under my — urk!"

Kimberly whirled and held him by the throat with her heel while she fended off the drones with her hands. "Tell me, darling," Kimberly said without turning around, "how much do you enjoy having a windpipe?"

She heard a beep.

"… voice… printed… y-you…"

Kimberly let go. "Right then. There's a good minion. All synthodrones, cease hostilities!"

Instantly, they all stopped and stood still. Her other minions were all looking rather shocked. The roaches continued to destroy the drones en masse for a few seconds, but eventually stopped as well.

"Lovely," Kimberly said. "Now be some good chaps and subdue Team Go outside, if you please."

They marched out, past some very confused henches, monkeys, gorilla-rhinos, and roaches.

And one battered green woman who's gaze never moved from Kimberly.

Kimberly frowned. _Ah, here we are then._ "My dear, let me make this _abundantly _clear to you: You can join me, _or_ I can destroy you. It's simple, really." _Join me so I can make you suffer for your interference_.

Shego scoffed. "Kay, maybe you didn't get the memo after the brain scrambler, but I'm not exactly a _team player_."

Kimberly sighed dramatically. _Ah, you pick the loveliest paths, my dear Shego_. She snapped her fingers. "Ronald," she said pleasantly. Her minion clacked away on the controls, but Kimberly felt the floor open up underneath _her_ instead of Shego. Kimberly flipped back and slammed Ronald's face into one of the monitors. She heard it shatter and spark. "Ronald," she said again, just as pleasantly.

This time, the floor opened up under Shego, but she just jumped forward, straight at Kimberly. Kimberly flipped Shego around, slammed her back onto the floor, and as Shego flipped back up, Kimberly shoved her against the wall.

"This is familiar, isn't it darling?"

Shego snarled.

Kimberly hit the button nearby and restraints wrapped themselves around Shego's ankles and wrists. Finally, she stepped back. "Ah, the classics. You're still rushing in, I see. And you don't even seem to be trying, at that."

"Screw you," Shego said.

"Ah-ah." Kimberly wagged a finger at her. "None of that false bravado now, love." She looked down and found that, in their wrestling, Shego's new catsuit had torn even further and two things had fallen out of her breast pocket; one was her debit card. The other was the slip of paper Kimberly had seen in the villain resort. She picked it up.

A look of panic washed over Shego's face. "Hey! Don't look at that!"

Kimberly felt a pang of something familiar, but ruthlessly shoved it back down. "Aww," she said, "isn't this just _adorable_?" She flipped the burned photo booth picture of the two of them around to show it to Shego. "I think I'll keep this as a memory of all the _good times_, shall I?" She laughed. There was no humor in it.

Shego jerked on her restraints in fury. "As soon as I get my plasma back, you know I'm busting out of this."

"Mm, yes, but I'll get back to you before then. Right now, I have some business to attend to. Monkey Fist, darling?"

The man seemed to positively _bristle_ at being called 'darling'.

_So noted,_ Kimberly thought.

"I'm not quite sure what has happened," he said "but it seems you _have _embraced villainy after all. I suppose you're going to ask if I will join you or not."

"Well that _was_ to be my question, yes," Kimberly said. "You answer?"

He glanced around the room.

_Yes, take in that I have all the cards on my end of the table and _fold_, monkey boy._

He sighed. "Very well."

Kimberly smiled. "And you, my dear?"

Electronique had recovered, though looking far more the worse for wear. "Eh, I could use some good villaining. We will be doing the villaining, yes?"

"Yes," Kimberly said. _Note to self, rip out Electronique's tongue later or enroll her in a proper English class; either torture will do. _"And the rest of you?"

There were eager nods from Professor Dementor, Duff Killian, and the henches. DNAmy was lying, knocked out, next to one of the Gorhinos.

"Oh please," Shego said. "So you have your little Evil League startup. So what?"

"Ah yes," Kimberly said. "Back to you, darling."

"Fantastic," Shego said.

"Oh come now," Kimberly said. "Surely you don't expect me to believe you don't _enjoy_ my company? '_I'm only coming along to find those responsible for using my name_.'" She laughed. "Please. And you," she snapped at her blond minion, "talk to the henches. I'm sure there's a good stylist among them; it's high time I cut this unruly mane. Really, what was I _thinking_, fighting like this?"

"Kimmie," Shego said, "come on. You _know _you're good! It's just that stupid toy of Sparky's over here!"

"Hey!"

Kimberly waved a hand in front of Electronique. "Silence! And you, Shego, will address me as Kimberly. Kimmie is so passé. Of course, of all people, you should know what you're attempting to do is useless. I _like _being evil. It's rather… liberating, wouldn't you say?"

"And just what do you plan to do with your newfound 'liberation'?"

"My dear, dear, Shego." Kimberly walked over a spot on the floor. "It's time to save the world, of course."

Then she crushed the Reverse Polarizer under her heel.

* * *

_**A/N**__: Next chapter, Kim saves the world._


	12. Seasoned With Gracious Voice

**Chapter 12 - Seasoned With Gracious Voice**

* * *

It was good to be queen.

It had been about a 3 weeks since Shego's escape shortly after their conversation; Shego had even helped her brothers to escape on Duff Killigan's airship. Next time, Kimberly would not leave the buffoon in charge of watching her, nor underestimate mole rats... because Shego surely would come back. These hero types always did.

The world was falling nicely to its knees in the meantime, however. Between the group of supervillains she had assembled, the strategic hits to destabilize economies and ruin militaries, and Kimberly's own personal missions to… coerce particularly stubborn governments, it was all running rather smoothly. She now controlled well over 70% of the world's military and those that weren't controlled were quickly being disarmed and otherwise destroyed. The Lowardian invasion had already destroyed much of the planet's forces, and in the world's weakened state, taking over had been child's play.

Not by killing anyone, of course. No, no, that would be _far_ too easy. Kimberly had decided that if she was going to rule the planet, she wanted to rule as many people as possible. Killing them all off just didn't seem sporting at all. Homicides were near nonexistent, in fact; such was the fear she commanded. Those countries without adequate medical care or food were given enough to make sure that no one died of disease or famine. Oh yes, she would rule over as many people as she could and _none of them_ were allowed to die until it was their time. There weren't even any suicides as Kimberly had a habit of preventing them and then punishing those who tried to leave her utopia. Monitoring technology had really come a long ways under the tender love and care of Electronique, Motor Ed, and Ronald, and mind control chips were so _effective_ at getting troublemakers to fall in line.

The buffoon was rather helpful, if traitorous. Ronald attempted a coup no less than 47 times this week. He had yet to learn, but his skill with the machinery made him far too useful to dispose of. Yet.

Kim steepled her fingers from her throne — an actual throne that was the natural treasure of some European nation — and checked the figures again on the tablet device from her former tech guru — Ronald had disabled the remote access. She smiled. The last of China's resistance was crushed. Not bad for 3 weeks worth of work.

Kimberly's face was plastered all over the world. The entire planet knew to whom they bowed. She still had the so called 'resistance' fighters that had foiled a few plans, of course. There was that carefully engined plan with an exploitable rocketry flaw, for example, or a brain wave inducer that was countered within hours… plans with weaknesses chosen specifically for Mr. and Mrs. Dr. Possible's skill set… plans whose outlines were placed where Wade Load would find them without suspicion. The foiled plans were making the two doctors quite the symbol of hope and resistance, the perfect paragons to crush under her heel, and with it, the last of the world's dreams of freedom. In due time.

More troubling, however, was that Shego had disappeared off the face of the Earth. Of course, the buffoon had next to no skill with computers compared to the insufferable Wade Load, but some quickly hired outsourcing had taken care of that. Still, it seemed that no matter how hard they searched or how much Kimberly threatened her employee's families, they could find no trace of Shego's movements.

Kimberly snapped her fingers and a peon stood a bit straighter. "Earl Grey," she said in her Oxford accent, "and don't cock it up again, or I'll show you what boiling water is by throwing you in it."

The peon given the honor of serving her bowed and ran off.

Kim ran a hand through her close cut hair that she had slicked back on her head. Yes, it was good to be queen.

She heard yelling outside the hall the peon had left. She frowned. Such decorum. In _her_ lair. Someone was going to be shipped off for some forced labor somewhere very hot. Like the _sun_.

A guard yelled as he sailed through the air, into her throne room. She sighed. It was about time.

Shego strode in, clad in her new trademark green and black catsuit and knocking the guards aside with ease as they tried to intercept her.

"Oh bloody —" Kimberly held up a hand. "Stop! Stop, you twits. Honestly. Piss off, the lot of you. And notify guest services of our new arrival. We wouldn't want her to be uncomfortable."

The guards and peons bowed and filed out. Kim steepled her fingers again as Shego came to a stop several feet away. Kim had the sudden urge to have a white cat of some kind in her lap. It was too bad Ronald didn't still have that mole rat; it would have served.

"Shego, darling," Kimberly said. "What a pleasant surprise."

Shego stood, impassive.

"What's this?" Kimberly said. She uncrossed and recrossed her legs. "No quip? No snark? Are we really going to do this without the old classics? Really, you go 5 minutes as a would-be hero and you're _already_ too serious." She sighed, and spoke with the tired voice of someone far too busy to deal with this. "How many of your are there? I expect the ninjas have come with you, no? At least the rest of Team Go."

Shego growled. "Just me."

"Truly?" Kimberly said, mildly interested. She peered down her nose. "No one willing to come with the famous villainess to save the world, hm?"

"They wanted to wait," Shego said. "Strike when you slipped up. I told them you wouldn't. Your false victories with the parents were a nice touch to make them think you would, though."

"My, my!" Kimberly said. "Aren't we a clever girl?"

"Whatever," Shego said. "What's with the outfit? Stealing my look now?"

"Oh I wouldn't say that," Kimberly said. "I like the catsuit look, but purple and black is more my color, I think. And the asymmetrical thing is _so_ not in vogue."

"Tsh. We going to do this or what?" Shego said.

"Sorry, my dear," Kimberly said. "I delegate now. Oh minions!"

Monkey Fist, Electronique, and Ronald walked forward from where they had been been standing for the last few seconds of the exchange. The rest of the villains Kimberly had formed were off on their own missions.

"Be some dears and clean up this mess for me, would you?" Kimberly said.

"Uh-uh," Shego said. "You are _not_ just going to ignore me!" She jumped.

Kimberly sat back with a smirk on her face as Monkey Fist knocked her out of the air and into the foot of the stairs leading to her throne.

"Oh, tough luck, there," Kimberly said.

Shego growled and swung a plasma covered hand at Monkey Fist, but he leapt out of the way. Ronald and Electronique came in behind her and forced her back, away from the throne.

It was all rather boring to watch, really. The minion she had sent for tea came back with a steaming cup and Kim shooed him with a wave of her hand and a quiet "ta." She checked the tablet device. Ooo, the latest fashions were out at Club Kimberly. She must have been sent an advance of those designs sometime in the last week. She'd have to check with shipping…

Ron and Monkey Fist made quite the team against Shego. With Electronique providing ranged support, they'd have to complete idiots to lose the way they just did, now lying unconscious on her floor.

"You don't make this easy, do you?" Kimberly said with another sigh. She pressed the intercom button on the throne. "Peons to the throne room for removal. Send them to the morgue and be sure to record their reactions when they wake up, if you please."

"You done playing dictator," Shego said, "or do I need to beat up more of your cronies before we fight?"

"Ah, very well, darling," Kimberly said. "But, to tip the scales a bit…" She snapped. From the floor rose legions of synthodrones. Kimberly smiled as she saw Shego tense. "Yes, I believe we can start now. Oh, one more thing." Kimberly pulled a laser pistol and shot Shego through the heart.

Or at least where Shego's heart had been. Shego moved out of the way at the last second and charged the throne. She was faster than Kimberly remembered. Kimberly shot again and again, but Shego just _wasn't there_ when the laser fired. Then she was right on top of Kimberly, her leg poised to kick.

_Aw, bollocks._

Kimberly spun through the air, barely softening the blow by leaping in the same direction. The pistol skidded into a far corner. Kim found her footing, leapt back at Shego, and sent a heel downward.

Shego rolled out of the way, and the growing fear Kimberly edging into Shego's face was wiped away. They spun, kicked, punched, and generally danced their way around the throne room, but something was off. Shego seemed faster than normal, but also… more reserved. She wasn't lunging with her usual boiling anger. She bobbed, weaved, and made precision strikes where she had an opening. And most oddly, she seemed to act like the drones weren't even there. They literally melted wherever Shego went.

It was then that Kim realized Shego was actually attacking the drones while she was attacking Kim as well. Then Kimberly got caught in the stomach by two feet because a synthodrone blocked her path. She went flying and barely caught her balance in time.

"Enough!" Kimberly said. She dismissed her synthodrones with wave of her hand; they were only getting in the way.

"Ready to really play, Kimmie?" Shego said, lighting her hands in rolling balls of plasma. "Because I'm ready to cut lose on you."

"Oh please," Kimberly said. "You've been fighting at the peak of your game since this started. You're going to tire, and then I win. Again."

Instead of a denial, quip, or frustrated growl that Kimberly expected…

Shego grinned.

Shego leapt into the air, almost straight up, until she hit the roof several stories above them, and launched herself down. And despite the distance, Kimberly didn't have time to react. She was blown back by a shock wave of plasma as Shego's fist blasted its way into the stone flooring. It cracked and depressed 10 feet around the impact.

Kimberly saved herself at the last minute and planted her feet into the wall as she flew into it, then let herself tumble to the floor. Her knees nearly gave out from under her.

_Where did _that _come from?!_

Then she saw it: Shego's arm was twitching.

Kim's snarl was enough to match any of Shego's. "My battle suit!"

"_My_ battle suit," Shego said. "Oh, but don't worry; you can have it back. Just as soon as I'm done handing you your ass."

Kimberly ran at her in a fit of rage, but it was pointless; Kimberly could barely prevent Shego from landing a disabling blow, much less trying to counter-attack. But she had to; she couldn't keep up the furious pace that they were moving. Kim saw the biggest opening she had during the entire fight and threw the fastest strike she could, but Shego nimbly stepped around it and sent a knee into her gut. Kimberly threw up right there and, while stunned, Shego wrestled her to the ground.

"Let go of me!" Kimberly said.

"In a second, Princess," Shego said. Her voice was surprisingly gentle.

"Queen!"

Shego actually manged to roll her eyes. "Right."

Kimberly squirmed and jerked, but even with one hand, Shego's grip was absolute.

With a shaking hand, Shego pulled a device from her ankle pouch. It looked like a small metal box with a cord attached to two little cups. Shego placed one of these cups against Kimberly's temple.

"What are you doing?" Kimberly said. "Get this off of me!"

"Relax," Shego said. "You destroyed all the Attitudinators in the world and there was only the one Reverse Polarizer. Plus you have the two people who knew how to make them as your cronies, so… your mom and the nerd linger whipped up a little something." With a twitching hand, she tapped the box. "This will remove any brain alterations."

"That will — NO!" Kimberly struggled harder than ever and tried to kick at Shego, but that only made Shego press down harder. "Don't!" Her mask broke. "Please! Please, don't do this! Don't kill me!"

For an instant, Shego faltered. Kimberly nearly pulled herself free, but Shego clamped back down on her.

"Nice try," Shego said.

"_Please,_" Kimberly said. "Let me go! _Let me go_!" She stared to cry and blubber. "Please no. If you do this, I won't be _me _anymore! How can do you do this against my will?! How can you be so heartless?!"

At last, Shego stuck the second cup to Kimberly's other temple and stared back at Kimberly's accusing glare. Her eyes had become red and far too wet.

"Because I'm evil, Kimmie." She hit the button.

Kimberly's body tensed liked card being squeezed, then slumped back to the floor. Steam billowed off her body.

"Shego," Kim's voice was weak.

Shego avoided her gaze. She looked pained. "The Deneuralizer takes a bit out of you," she said. "Can you stand?"

Kim mutely nodded. Shego carefully picked herself up, and offered Kim a hand. Kim rose, faltered, and Shego caught her around the waist. Her grip was too tight and Kim cried out.

Shego loosened her grip. "S-sorry!"

Kim felt Shego's fingers twitching on her waist. "Shego… how long have you worn the battle suit?"

"Worry about yourself," Shego said. "Your goons are back."

"Good work, Shego," Monkey Fist said, ambling up to them through the door. Ron came up behind him with Electronique just turning the corner. They all looked royally tweaked. "Now step aside. I'd like a few _words_ with Ms. Possible over our… employment."

Shego's arm wrapped tighter around Kim, but this time without hurting her. "Yeah," Shego said, "that's not happening."

Monkey Fist glanced between them. A look of dawning realization washed over his face. "So… it's finally happened, has it?"

"What do _we_ care, _fool_?" Ron said. "_Get them!_"

Shego held up a hand. "Ah-ah! If you want to go, we can. Just keep in mind I was the one who did _that_." She jerked her head towards the 20 foot wide crater in the stone floor.

Electronique had finally hobbled her way up. "Perhaps… we should let this one go, hm?"

"Not in _this_ lifetime, missy!" Ron said. Without another word, he rushed Shego, who merely backhanded him, knocking him out cold.

"Any other takers?" Shego said.

Monkey Fist slowly backed away with a glare. "This isn't over."

Electronique had already turned tail and ran.

"Shego," Kim said, still weak, "Ron."

"Right, right," Shego said. She set down Kim as easily as she could in her shaking arms, then tried to attach the cups to Ron's temples without success.

Kim reached over and took Shego's hands in hers. "Here. Let me."

A minute later, Ron glowed briefly, steam poured off him, and then was apparently back to normal, if still knocked out.

"There," Shego said. "Can we go now?"

**-o0O0o-**

Kim walked along on a gray sidewalk in Moscow. It was dark and just a bit chilly, despite it only being the first week of September. She tucked her hands into her hoodie. She was about to duck into one of the alleyways for the night when she heard the sound of breaking glass not 20 feet away and looked up.

A group of three men in black ski masks were ransacking a store while a petrified clerked looked on with his hands in in the air. Kim let her shoulders slump, turned heel, and walked up the store with her hands still in her hoodie.

The first one saw her when she was right on top of him. He went down with a single punch to the side of his jaw. The second turned and threw a knife. Kim just kept walking. He started shaking from head to toe; she slammed him into the counter. The third was at least smart enough to not attack her right away. He held another knife out in front of him. Then he got a good look at her and his knife started to shake even harder in his hand. Kim took another step.

"I-it is _you_," he said in heavily accented English. "D-D-Dead Eye Kim! P-please!" The knife clattered to the floor. "Please don't hurt me! I-I'll go quietly!"

Kim stepped in front of him, turned left into the isle, and found some zip ties she could use to restrain him until the police arrived.

Then he tried to run.

Kim dropped the zip ties, walked through the door, picked up a heavy wooden log from a pile outside, and flung it. It struck square in the back of his head. He crumpled.

Without looking at the clerk, she tucked her hands back into her hoodie, and kept walking back out into the night.

A half hour later, she had found a nice alleyway where she could rest out of sight, when —

"Kim!"

She sighed, turned, and saw a blond young man running up to her.

"KP!" Ron said, finally caught up and doubled over. "I've been looking for you for weeks!"

"You didn't need to do that," Kim said. Her voice was unusually hoarse. She swallowed.

"Yes, I did, KP! Look at you!" He gestured towards her Kim looked down. Her formerly white hoodie had taken a decidedly gray color, her mission pants were a bit ripped, and her rocket sneakers looked like they were going to start peeling, but she otherwise didn't see anything wrong. "Kim. Your arm."

The knife that the robber threw had cut through her hoodie and the arm had bleed into the gray fabric.

"It's fine," Kim said.

"No, it's not!" he said. "Here, let me bandage it."

"I said it's _fine_, Ron."

But he unzipped her hoodie and peeled it back anyway. The alcohol stung as he poured it over the cut. He finished the bandage with a warp and Kim pulled the hoodie back up.

"Happy now?" Kim said.

"Look." He put the med kit back into his backpack and pulled out a small compact. When Kim didn't take it, he opened it and shoved it back in her face. Two sunken, baggy eyes looked back her. Her now shaggy hair had matted to her forehead and her lips were chapped and red.

Kim snapped the mirror shut in his hands. "I'm a little rough around the edges, Ron, but otherwise I'm. _Fine_. _Really!_"

"KP, I'm telling you, as your friend, you're not okay!"

"You don't understand —"

"No, I _do_ understand!" Ron said. "You did some bad things and you regret them, but it wasn't your fault! It was mind control, even if no one was controlling… you… okay that sounded a lot better in my head." He rubbed his neck. "It really wasn't your fault, though, KP, and you can't just punish yourself like this! We're supposed to be a team, remember?"

Kim turned around to walk back into her alleyway, but Ron pulled on her shoulder and spun her back around.

"KP, what's wrong with you?!"

Kim shrugged. "Nothing. Nothing's wrong, Ron. Please, just… I need some time to myself."

"That's what you said _two months ago_," Ron said, "and I got to tell you, time to yourself does _not _suit you."

Rufus, who had apparently stayed with Wade during Kim's reign, climbed up to Ron's shoulders and seemed to nod.

Kim didn't even feel the urge to crack a smile.

Ron sighed. "Alright, look. Maybe I can't help you, but at least do me two favors?"

Kim said nothing.

"Just… just promise me you'll take better care of yourself," Ron said, "and take this." He took to a knee and dug back into his large pack. He rummaged inside for only a moment, and pulled out Kim's own backpack; her green and black backpack. "We found it. In the lair after Shego rescued you. Here. Take it."

Kim didn't move for several seconds. She stared at the offered pack, but when Ron's arm didn't seem to be dipping any, she unhooked it from his fingers and set it on top of a nearby crate; she'd decide what to do with it later.

Ron didn't look happy about her placement, but pressed on. "There's one other thing," he said. "In the front pocket, there's an address. Wade set it all up. There's a pilot there that will take you anywhere you want to go. Apparently we saved his wife awhile back."

"Thanks," Kim manged to say. "Now please, I really just need to be left alone."

Ron nodded. His eyebrows were screwed up in thought. "I'm sorry… that I can't be the one to help you, KP."

He hesitated, moved to hug her, then lowered his arms and backed off. He gave a curt nod, turned heel, and walked back out of the alley.

"…Ron?"

Ron whirled. "Yeah?"

Kim shuffled her feet and suddenly wished she hadn't called out. "When… when you were… you know, evil… didn't it bother you? Afterward?"

Ron chewed his lip. "Not… really," he said. "I mean, don't get me wrong, going for world domination for Nacos was pretty overkill, but… I wasn't myself then and you stopped me pretty quickly. And honestly, it all gets a little _fuzzy_ after awhile."

Kim gave a slow nod.

Ron rubbed his arm. "Was there… anything else?"

"No." Kim said. "I just… need some more time, Ron. Please."

Ron nodded. "Alright. Just… be careful, Kim. And take the backpack!"

Kim nodded again and tried to force a smile, but it came out more like a grimace. Ron gave her one last sad, longing look, then walked out of the alley and out of sight.

Kim collapsed with her back to the crate and rested her head against it. She might have slept like that, she wasn't sure, but eventually, she reached up and pulled the backpack off the top of the crate where it laid. Unzipping the front pocket, she found the same Kimmunicator she had used when she was evil — which she now removed the button battery from, just in case, — and the handwritten directions in Ron's hand along with an address and a small note at the bottom.

'_She's in China. You know where.'_

**-o0O0o-**

Kim walked up the slick path with her stomach doing the _macarena_. She guessed that the sun was still up since she could see, if barely. A storm had swept in, late for the summer, and it dumped water in buckets. The stone walkway looked as if there was a waterfall emanating from the enormous wooden doors ahead. She wolfed down the rest of an energy bar just as those doors opened and Sifu stepped out, completely soaked.

"The students are practicing," he said without fanfare.

"In… this," she said without a gesture. He didn't turn to go back through the door. "Are you… not letting me in?"

"You should go for a walk first, _túdì_,"he said.

"In the rain," Kim said. "Sifu, I'm tired —"

But he turned back into the compound and the door creaked shut behind him. Kim heard the sound of the bolt sliding closed. Her jaw went slack and her heart slumped. For a long moment, she simply stared at the rough, knotted wood and the water rippling down it's front. With nothing else to do, she turned and started down a path.

The plants along the way, while still very green, were just starting to yellow some; though it was hard to tell in the murky weather. Water trailed across the path in tiny steams, soaking her sneakers. Kim hefted her backpack and kept going until she went up a hill and saw her destination. She hadn't meant to, but she had gone straight towards the old, crumbling water well, and there, letting the rain soak her long dark hair until it was plastered over her back, stood Shego.

Kim didn't move for a long while; instead she just stared at Shego. She stood hunched over the old well, gazing into it as they had before. The sound of the rain on the nearly collapsed roof was loud even from a distance. Shego had gotten a new catsuit — or repaired the first one — in the same sleek black and green style from France. Her back was almost facing Kim, but her shoulders were high and tense, her stance less loose than usual. Kim moved down the hill and up the next towards the well.

"Hey," she said.

Shego spun around with a splash. Water tinkled in the puddles. "… Kimmie."

Kim's stomach was doing that thing again. They stood like that, in the rain, fixed upon each other with melancholy stares.

"… I'm sorry," Shego said.

Kim blinked the rain out of her eyes. "What?"

Shego's face contorted. It was disturbing to see Shego look so dispirited rather than just angry. "At the… lair…" she said. "What I had to do… to change you back… When I — when I —" She clutched her stomach and flung a hand to her mouth as her cheeks ballooned just slightly. She looked even more green than usual.

Kim's jaw dropped completely this time. It had never even occurred to her what Shego might have been feeling about… that.

"Shego," she said, "you saved me. You saved the _world_."

"The world can _rot_ for all I care." Venom dripped from Shego's voice, but Kim had the feeling it wasn't directed at her.

"You still saved me," Kim said. "I… begged you to stop, Shego," — Shego looked like she might actually throw up this time — "but I wasn't myself. It's like a mental patient begging people to stop caring for them; they can't do it, even if it hurts them too."

Shego didn't look any less green.

"I don't blame you, Shego," Kim said. "For what good it was worth, thank you for saving me."

"… what's that supposed to mean?" Shego said.

This time, Kim got the distinct impression that the venom _was_ directed at her. "Just thank you," she said.

"No," Shego said. "No, I want to hear what this little comment of yours is about, _Kimmie_. What do you mean 'what good it was worth'?"

"It's nothing," Kim said.

"Bullshit."

The rain kept coming down. It's beat against the well's roof, rolled down their faces, and plinked in the puddles scattered throughout the mountainside. Frogs sung to each other through the din of the storm while rolling thunder served as their backdrop.

"When we were fighting together…" Kim said. "When we went to stop Warmonga… why did stop me from… finishing." Her skin crawled. "I figured you, of all people, would want Warmonga to suffer."

Shego was quiet. She gave Kim a surprisingly calculating look. "I would have given her much, much worse, Kimmie," Shego said. "But you… you wouldn't be able to live with yourself afterward."

"I seemed to live with it pretty well when I was doing it," Kim said, choking on her words. She stared at Shego's feet and watched the rain wash mud off them.

Shego sighed, reached over, and tilted Kim's head up by her chin using just the tips of her fingers. "Kimmie, that wasn't you. You shouldn't let it get to you. You're not that person."

"But it _was_ me!"

"It was the Attitudinator," Shego said. "Reverse Polarizer. Whatever. Honestly, do you ever think I'd actually go for 'Stevie'?"

Kim gave a bitter laugh. It felt strange. "No… but…"

Shego shook her head. "No. No buts. I think I, of all people, should be able to tell you that you're just too much of a do-gooder to actually cause misery to _anyone_, much less everyone in the world."

Kim frowned. "I don't know if I can believe that. Everything the Attitudinator does isn't fake."

"… not everything," Shego said. "You have the knowledge to do what you did, and you knew it would be the most efficient way to bring her down. Plus, you still wanted to save the world afterward."

Another bitter laugh, this one dripping with Kim's venom.

"That's just it, Shego," Kim said. Her chest was rising and falling faster now. She tried to control her breathing. "I could do it. I could fix… everything…" She gestured around them. "There'd be no more hunger. No more war. No more needless death. All I have to do is—is—"

"—not be Kimmie anymore," Shego said.

A sob wrecked her ribs. Then another. Tears were starting to blur her vision.

Shego hesitated, then pulled Kim close. A hand gently pressed against the back of Kim's head and ran it's fingers through her short hair.

Kim brought her hands up to Shego's back and bawled. And between her sobs, she murmured, over and over again, "thank you."


	13. Veiling a Beauty

**Chapter 13 - Veiling a Beauty**

* * *

Rain plinked away on the roof of the dorm room, and dust hung in the air like dull stars. The only light came from the faint blue-gray glow around the cracks of the door. It might have been morning; Kim wasn't sure. She rolled the pencil sized Kimmunicator in one hand and the tiny button battery in the other. The battery cover flicked open. Then closed. Then open. Then closed.

Kim put the battery and Kimmunicator on the stand next to her, then rolled over and pulled the bed covers over her shoulder. She looked at the empty bed two night stands over which she could just make in the dim blue light. Shego wasn't in it; she hadn't been since Kim woke up. She pulled the covers tighter around her.

The sound of rain grew suddenly loud. The dim light increased and seemed almost blinding. Kim shut her eyes to it and kept them closed after she heard the door click shut. She might have believed she was still alone until she heard the squeak of the tap and the sound of the sink water added to the dull tinkle of rain.

The tap squealed shut. A moment later, the bed near Kim's feet sunk a couple inches. She tensed.

"I knew you were awake," Shego said from the foot of her bed.

Kim blew air through her nose, but didn't open her eyes or otherwise move.

Shego lightly hit the side of Kim's covered leg. "Come on, you should do something. The weather's perfect."

Kim huffed through her nose.

"You're boring when you pout," Shego said.

Kim stayed silent.

"Come on, get up," Shego said. "We have places to go."

"I'm not going anywhere, Shego," Kim said.

"Either you get up and come with me or I start blasting the school apart until you get up and stop me."

Kim grumbled and pulled the covers tighter around her. Then her bed tilted to the side until it was sitting on it's side, and Kim tumbled to the floor tangled in her blanket.

"Shego!"

"Finally." Shego leaned over the toppled bed. "Getting up yet?"

"Don't feel like it," Kim said from the floor.

"Well _that_ was pathetic."

Kim laid on the floor, feeling ridiculous, but she refused to play Shego's game. She just wanted to sleep.

"What time is it?" she said.

"About six in the evening."

Kim peaked out of her blankets. "I slept for twenty hours?"

"Just about," Shego said. "So time to get up, Sleeping Beauty."

Kim groaned, but got up. Shego picked the bed up, set it down correctly, and Kim threw her blankets on top. Shego left the dorm then came back with a tray in her hands. It held a plate with thick beef strips set in a bed of rice and vegetables.

"The guys thought you might want some of the good stuff," Shego said.

"Er, thanks," Kim said, taking the tray.

"Don't thank me," Shego said. "The old codger wouldn't leave me alone unless I promised to get it for you when you woke up."

Once she started, Kim found she was actually quite hungry and scarfed down the meal. She had to suppress a burp and set the tray on the stand next to the Kimmunicator.

"Good," Shego said. "We leave in an hour."

"Wait… what?" Kim said. "I didn't agree to go anywhere."

"'Kay, Kimmie? I wasn't kidding about the blasting the school apart thing. I can get started now, if that's what it takes."

"Can't I just rest for a bit?" Kim said.

"Nope," Shego said. "You've been out wandering for two months; it's high time you have some fun. So either you're coming or I start blasting."

Kim rolled her eyes. "Fine. I'll go do whatever. Where are we going?"

"You'll see," Shego said.

"Oh, _that's_ encouraging."

"Trust me, Pumpkin."

Kim shook her head. "I can't believe you just said those words."

Shego shrugged, sat back down on her own bed, lifted a book that had been sitting on her nightstand, and flipped through the pages until she found her spot.

"… I didn't know you read books," Kim said.

Shego held the book to her chest and looked over. Her eyebrows raised.

"I didn't mean like that!" Kim said. "I know you can read. It's just that I only ever see you reading magazines when I burst into one of the lairs. Never a novel."

A finger tapped the cover of the book, then Shego took a long, deep breath and let it out slowly. "You wanted to know how I got my degree, right?"

Kim blinked, then gave a hesitant, uncertain nod.

"I started college classes while I was in high school," Shego said. "I wasn't a brain child or anything like your freakish brothers, but I wrote well enough to get passing grades. Hego's idea; something about secret identities, blah blah. One of the egg heads at the school got me into reading more. I just don't let anyone see me reading novels. Ruins my image."

Kim blinked again, opened her mouth, closed it, and decided to smile instead.

"… why are you looking at me like that?"

"No reason," Kim said. "So that's your big secret about how you got a degree?"

"It was never really a secret," Shego said. "You never actually asked."

Kim rubbed the bridge of her nose. "Sometimes I wonder if you actually like talking to me, or if you just like to tease me."

"Let's go with both."

Kim looked at her.

"I mean," Shego said hastily, "let's go with about 70% —"

"Oh no!" Kim said, holding up a finger. "You, Shego, world class villain, top theft, and arch-foe, just admitted she likes to talk to me."

Shego groaned disgustedly and placed the book over her face. Kim smirked triumphantly.

"Whatever," Shego said, lifting the book. "You might want to take a shower because we _are_ leaving soon."

Kim went to brush her teeth and shower, slipping off her purple and black mission clothes and into the generic white cami. The pants were gray this time. When she reentered the main room, Shego was still on her bed, reading. Oddly, though, she held a hand near her face and was circling a spot on her cheek.

"You know," Shego said, as if on cue, "you… kinda kissed me, right?"

"What? No I didn't!"

"During the drop into Nine Feet of Gruesome's," Shego said, still circling her cheek. "You dropped into my arms. Kissed my cheek."

With a sinking realization, Kim realized Shego was right. "I— that was a stressful situation — I didn't think — thankful you caught me —"

Shego raised her her hand from her face and made a lazy 'shoo' motion before returning it to the book. "Relax, and stress do weird things."Her eyes never left the book in her hands, which she tapped absentmindedly.

Red faced, Kim walked jerkily to her bed, smoothed the covers, and laid back down while her hair dried.

**-o0O0o-**

"Why are you guys here?" Kim said.

She stared at the young men and women gathered by the compound gates under umbrellas. They wore what they usually did; casual button ups, teeshirts and loose pants. A couple had backpacks on.

"This was their idea, actually," Shego said, still in her catsuit. Despite telling Kim to leave her backpack, Shego had her own slung over her back. "Come on, we'll miss the cab if we don't hurry."

Without further explanation, they left through the double doors. They tracked their way through the mud and rain in several clusters, huddled under the umbrellas. It was almost an hour before they got to the blue and yellow minivan taxi. They piled in and the taxi started down south towards Beijing.

"Are you going to tell me where I'm going now?" Kim said.

The students around her snickered.

"Nope," Shego said, pointedly ignoring the students.

Then the students started stripping. They pulled off their wet shirts, kicked off muddy shoes, and peeled out of their wet pants. The driver didn't bat an eyelash and simply kept going. The two students with backpacks started handing out bundles of shoes and clothes covered in plastic. The students changed into them and stuffed their old clothes into the plastic bags and back into the backpacks. The entire time, Shego simply watched the landscape go by.

They finally pulled into the city proper and stopped in front of what looked like a club; there was a long line of people outside and a rather burly looking European man standing in front of the entrance. The students piled out and Kim moved to follow, but Shego held her back.

"Not us," she said. "We're going to somewhere a little different."

Kim sat back down and eyed Shego suspiciously. She had the vague notion of being lead into a trap, but she couldn't seem to care.

Finally, they pulled up near another building. Shego handed some _yuan_ to the driver and stepped out. Kim followed after. Shego walked confidently past a tall Han Chinese man who let them pass. Kim barely saw the interior before Shego pulled her into a restroom.

"Here," Shego said, pulling out a bundle from her pack, "put this on."

"Shego!" Kim said. "I get back from taking over _the world_ and you thinking bringing me to a _dance club_ is going to make me feel better?"

"No idea, actually," Shego said, "but _I_ intend to have a little fun and _you_ are coming with. Beijing has good clubs! Now you can just stand around the floor looking stupid if you want, but you're staying."

Kim fumed for awhile, but Shego seemed perfectly content to check her nails while Kim stared her down.

"I could just leave," Kim said.

"You could," Shego said, not taking her eyes off her nails. It still felt odd to Kim that Shego's new catsuit didn't have gloves. "I could also go back to the school and start wrecking things."

Kim sagged, took the bundle from Shego, and stormed into a stall to change. The bundle was actually four items: A halter top that criss-crossed in the front, black boot-cut pants, low black heels, and a simple black stretch choker. The halter top was, of course, green.

Kim finished and stepped out to find that Shego had also switched her wardrobe. She now wore a simple spaghetti strap dress — patterned green and black — that stopped mid-thigh and, as usual, hugged her curves. A black bolero covered her shoulders while strappy heels and a slim necklace with a tiny emerald completed the outfit.

"Ready?" Shego said.

"Not really?" Kim said.

Shego shouldered her pack, pulled Kim by her hand, and lead them out of the restroom. Kim was assaulted with the flashing of strobes lights, the smell of alchohol, and deep bass that shook her bones. It was a large club, and there seemed to be a lot of Europeans mixed in with the locals.

"I'm going to drop this off," Shego said in Kim's ear. She hefted her backpack where they had put their clothes. "And then I'm going to enjoy myself. Try to have some fun, mm, Princess? Dance with a nice girl or something." Then she turned, laughing.

So Kim stood to the side, feeling decidedly foolish, and watched people dance. Shego had the nerve to drag her here, then leave her alone. It was ridiculous! She just wanted to crawl back into a bed for awhile, but as she watched the crowd, she noticed something odd; most of the people were women.

"Hey there!"

Kim started, blinked, and focused on a woman standing nearby who seemed to be addressing her. She had dark skin and a ring piercing through her lip.

"Uh, hey," Kim shouted over the music.

"You should dance with us! My friend thinks you're cute!"

"N-no thanks," Kim said. She put her palms between them and shook her head to emphasize the point.

The girl seemed disappointed, but walked back to her circle of friends, all of them women.

The light bulb of her mind lit up like a small sun. _She brought me to a gay club!_ That explained why she'd been so shifty about it. And why they had dropped the other students off at another club. Maybe it was a good thing; maybe she _did_ need a break. She'd been traveling non-stop for the last 8 weeks. Time to try to move on.

_Okay. Gay. I'm gay. Into girls. Am I okay with that?_ Kim looked from one girl to the next and tried to tell herself that it was okay to look at them and feel… something. Desire? She tried to imagine herself being pursued by a girl. Then she imagined pursuing a girl herself. She chanted to herself that it was normal, but something still held her back. Then Kim considered just finding a cab on her own and going back to Sifu's.

_I'm doing that thinking thing again,_ Kim's brain said. _Plus I have no money. I should just go dance. Plunge._

Stupid brain.

But she _was_ a Possible, and so, tentatively made her way into the dancing crowd. It was awkward; she felt a lot of eyes on her and they were all women for once. Her movements were jerky and robotic. She constantly felt off-rhythm and ended up bumping into someone more than once. Finally, red-faced, she had a enough and turned to storm off off the floor.

A hand grabbed her arm just below the shoulder, though it was gentle.

Kim turned. The girl that approached her before and her friends had decided to come over to her instead. A gentle tug, and Kim started to dance again.

This time, her movements were still jerky and erratic, but slowly, the beat of the music and the overbearing bass started to overwhelm her awkwardness, passing through her, energizing her. She started to loosen her shoulders, sway her hips. The girl who apparently thought she was cute was an Indian girl who had finally worked up the courage to dance next to Kim. They started moving closer as the songs when on; the girl smelled of cinnamon. By the end of the fifth song, Kim was throughly enjoying herself for the first time in almost three months.

The next track started, opening with quick paced claps that roughly matched her heart rate. A nearly white strobe flashed and out of the corner of her eye, she saw a flash of green. Maybe it was her heart rate, the endorphin high, or the sheer ridiculousness of the thought, but Kim waved goodbye to the group she had been dancing with and stepped in front of Shego.

And they danced.

Shego was almost as tense as Kim had been at first, and if Kim were honest with herself, much of her tension had crept back into her shoulders… but as the song went on, the tension seemed to melt out of both of them, falling into familiar, yet strange patterns. It was so different from their _roda_ or their fights… but at the same time, it was the same. Moving closer was more threatening but most oddly, so was moving away. Something in Kim's mind seemed to click off as they moved; the music dictated how she moved, the beat of her heart told her when to step closer or back, and her mind told her that the person in front of her probably the most beautiful things she had ever seen. She turned, wrapped hand behind Shego's neck, and placed the other on Shego's upper thigh. She felt Shego tense, then relax; her hands went to Kim's waist.

And they danced.

Kim's hips pressed into Shego and Shego tightened her grip on her waist. Her hair fell around Kim's bare shoulders, and the smell of vanilla once again overwhelmed her senses. Shego tucked her head around the nook of Kim's shoulder. Kim craned her neck; she felt Shego's breath caress her ear, her hips moving against hers, and her hands gripping her sides. Shego's lips brushed against her ear; then Kim felt Shego's mouth open and gently capture it in her teeth. Her fingers tightened around the back of Shego's neck. Kim's chest heaved and their dancing had slowed to swaying. Shego's teeth bit down, very lightly, and Kim moaned equally as light. Kim let her hand slip from Shego's neck, turned around, replaced her hand, pulled, and kissed Shego while standing on her tiptoes.

And standing completely still… they danced.

The overbearing bass and the dancing crowd around them became mere white noise. Shego's hand wrapped around Kim's waist. The other hand reached up and cupped her jaw, pulling and tilting it up while her lips captured Kim's in a slow dance of their own. Each time they parted, warm breath rolled over moist lips only briefly before one found the other again. Kim's hand flew up to the sides of Shego's face and caressed an ear while the other slipped to Shego's hips. Shego's lips parted from Kim's, only to trail over her jaw and down her neck.

"Shego…" Kim said. "We're still —" The thought left her as Shego bit down and her grip tightened.

Shego growled, then finally parted long enough to grab Kim's hand and pull her off the floor.

Kim's heart was pounding in her chest; it was actually painful. Her mind filled with nothing but desire to have those hands and those lips back on her neck, on her lips, on everything.

Shego strode right to a blue and yellow cab outside, threw open the door, and pulled Kim inside. Instead of going for a seat, however, Kim straddled Shego and this time, went for her neck. A gratifying moan rewarded her efforts as her teeth nibbled against Shego's pale green skin. A few minutes of eternity later, the taxi lurched to a stop, Shego threw a fistful of _yuan_ at the driver, and, without waiting for Kim to get up, grabbed Kim's legs and hoisted themselves out. Kim hooked her ankles around Shego's waist as soon as they were clear. Shego barely watched where she was going as they passed through glass doors, then reached into her bolero, pulled out a debit card, and threw it towards a front desk. A rather stern and straight-backed bellhop summoned an elevator and got in. Shego followed after, Kim still in tow and unrelenting in her affections. The bellhop looked rather expectant.

"Presi —"

Kim bit down on Shego's neck, then licked the spot.

"Presidental," Shego said between moans.

The bellhop pressed the button for the top floor and stood, still straight-backed and stone-faced, as they rose. Elevator music played.

The elevator dinged open, the bellhop opened the suite door, Shego swiped the keycard from his hand, and kicked the door to the suite closed behind her.

They barely made it to the bed before Kim had Shego out of her dress, the bolero long forgotten near the entrance. Kim's top came off in one movement, with nothing underneath. Their lips immediately met each other again.

They rolled together on the bed, but Shego ended up on top again. She bent down to undo the straps on her heels, and Kim took the opportunity to attack the other side of Shego's neck, unclasp her bra, and kick off her own heels. Straps undone, Shego nudged Kim's head to the side and nibbled around her jawline. Kim barely stayed quiet.

Shego's hand had somehow undone Kim's pants zipper without her noticing and suddenly they were slipped off her. Before Shego could move in again, Kim unclasped her bra and tossed it to the side. Shego rose back to Kim's face, but Kim dipped down and nibbling on Shego's clavicle and planting kisses along her upper chest.

Shego ran a hand through Kim's short red locks. "Damnit, Kimmie."

Their chests heaved and they were already covered in sweat. Shego looked down at Kim and Kim looked up at her. Finally, Kim nodded. Shego gave her a sideways glance. Kim rolled her eyes, propped herself up, and kissed her. She kissed Shego again and again and again, each quicker than the last.

And Shego took off the last of Kim's clothing. Kim returned the favor and also unclasped the tiny necklace and threw both to the side. Then she undid her choker which was, perhaps, a mistake; Shego immediately went after Kim's bare neck, and Kim finally stopped caring about how loud she was being.

When she stopped, a look of consternation was marring that beautiful face in front of her, however.

"What's wrong?" Kim said.

Shego grimaced. "Uh, yeah, last time I did this, I literally _scorched_ my girlfriend's _crotch_."

Kim pulled Shego down into a kiss and laced her fingers through Shego's.

Then Shego moved Kim up further onto the bed until she actually bumped Kim's head on the headboard. Shego pulled up, over Kim, and kissed the spot on top of her head. Which gave Kim the perfect angle. Shego gasped and arched her back. A hand ran through Kim's hair again and pulled tight, but didn't pull her away until Kim tried to change over and Shego pulled her back into another kiss. Then she kissed a trail down to the same spot Kim had attacked; Kim had to press her a hand into the head board to keep from knocking into again while another ran through Shego's tresses.

When Shego moved away, instead of bringing her hands up to Kim's face, they trailed lower. Something in Kim's inner thigh twitched so hard that her entire leg seemed to vibrate. Shego's leg twitched over her, in turn. Kim smiled nervously, then started to giggle. Soon, Shego joined her, her hand stopped, and they only stopped laughing when one silenced the other with their lips.

They parted, but Shego's face turned tense. Kim cupped Sheo's jaw in both hands and teased Shego's ears with her thumbs.

"Hey," Kim said, "you okay?"

Shego sucked her lips and nodded, jerkily. "I… I've just never…"

Kim ran her finger's over Shego's neck. "But… your friend…"

"Never got that far." She flashed a hand with plasma to emphasize.

And Kim's heart seemed to soar. She pulled up, off the bed, and kissed her again and again. She kissed Shego's lips, her jaw, down her neck, and up to her ear.

Slowly, Shego started to lower her hand until…

Kim's leg's tensed. Her feet thrust downward, pushing the covers down the bed. Her arms wrapped around Shego's neck and torso and pulled tight. She rose and fell with her breathing until it became more erratic and harried, all while Shego kissed, teased, bit and lick anything within reach. Kim finally relaxed her arms enough to turn her head and lock her lips with Shego's.

A feeling like a tingle suddenly and sharply increased; her entire body tensed again and the feeling exploded in waves through her body; hers arms held on even tighter until the feeling began to ebb away. Her legs and arms and everything seemed to twitch. Shego's lips found Kim's again and without thinking about it, Kim pulled Shego close and slid a hand down her stomach. She hesitated, building up her nerve, then took the plunge.

Shego's expression looked almost pained when she pulled up to look at Kim. Sweat dripped from her nose and lips, and Kim saw the same sensations she had felt play out over her features. When Shego raised up, her height played against her; Kim rose up and resumed her previous attack along Shego's chest.

Shego final pulled Kim by her hair up into another kiss, which then devolved into kissing anything they could find, haphazardly touching their lips to every bit of exposed skin. Their hands ran through each other's hair, down their bodies, over their curves, all while Kim's hand remained in one place. Slowly, she grew more comfortable and found something that made Shego tense, moan, and abandon her kisses altogether until finally, her muscles failed out from under her and she collapsed on top of Kim.

They stayed like that a moment, then kissed, caressed, pressed against against each other…

Then Shego lowered her whole body down Kim's, trailing kisses as she went.

And they danced.

**-o0O0o-**

It was light out when Kim woke up. She felt rested, but also felt no desire to get out of bed… until she saw, across from her, the covered but naked form of Shego.

The tension crept back into her muscles. She edged out of the bed, careful not to disturb Shego's side, grabbed a white silk robe, then paused. She turned to her discarded pants, pulled something out, slipped it into her robe pocket, then tip-toed out of the bedroom. An entire wall and a half of the suite was made of glass. Kim walked over the sliding glass door, pressed the button to open it, and walked onto the terrace.

The smog that normally blanketed the city was gone, temporally washed away by the rains. The terrace itself was wood floored and post modern furniture sat in a semi circle around a low table overlooking the Beijing skyline. Kim sat down on the far end of one of the still-wet couches, and watched the few remaining clouds move.

It might have been an hour later when she heard the glass door behind her slide open.

Shego walked around to the far couch and sat opposite the low table from Kim, tucking her legs up and to the side. She'd looked rather demure in her black robe, but Kim only saw her out of the corner of her eye.

A plane passed far overhead. Kim watched it go.

"College started about a week ago," she said faintly.

Shego fidgeted in her seat, but stayed silent.

"I always figured I'd be going to my first classes about now," Kim said. She watched the plane climb higher and higher until it was just a speck. "It seems… so silly now."

There were no sounds of traffic to fill the void that followed; they were too high up for anything but a dull kind of white noise to reach their ears, along with the occasional roaring engine in the distance above.

"We should… talk," Shego said.

"Yeah," Kim said, still looking up at the sky.

Several moments passed. Another plane passed quietly overhead in the distance.

Kim finally lowered her gaze. "Shego," she said, "where did… all this," she gestured at nothing in particular, "come from?"

Silence. Kim nearly jumped when a breeze passed by and gentle wind chimes tinkled nearby, then the barely there white noise blanketed the terrace again.

"Ron left," Kim finally continued in a murmur, "and you set a meal in the dorm room, didn't you? And it was you who insisted that you personally bring me a hot meal when I woke up yesterday, wasn't it? The… guys in the kitchen told me."

Shego looked like she was about to object but —

"And after we finished with Team Impossible," Kim said, finding it easier to talk now that she had started, "you took me to the spa to get my muscles to relax from the suit. And before that, you came to rescue me in the Pyrenees. You said you knew it was a trap yourself so you couldn't have been coming to find Drakken."

Shego's leg was twitching. Her arms were wrapped around her middle and a finger tapped on her upper arm. She opened her mouth to speak, but yet again —

"And before that," Kim said, now growing in intensity, "Ron told me that you insisted on going to the Lowardian ship yourself on the rescue mission. I thought it was for Drakken, and I'm still fairly sure that was part of it, but now…" She bit her lip, thinking. "And you came to rescue me from the Attitudinator and change me back. It…" her voice lost some of it's energy, "it hurt you to force that. But you came, even when everyone else wanted to wait. And…" she reached into her pocket. "I took this with me. I meant… I meant to return it. Here."

Kim held out the burned booth photo.

Shego hesitated, then reached out and took it. With an inscrutable expression, her fingers twitched over the photo as if she wasn't sure if she wanted to touch it with both hands. Then she tucked it in a robe pocket.

"Thank you," she said, as quiet as Kim had been. She seemed on the verge of more, but then seemed to think better of it and fell silent.

"… it was after you were turned good by the Attitudinator, wasn't it?" Kim said.

Shego looked like she was ready to dive off the balcony. Her lips quivered, open-mouthed, but no words came.

"You gave up a lot during a mission after that," Kim said. "When you were turned good… we became friends. Good friends."

Shego rocked a little in her seat, seemed to realized what she was doing, then sat painfully still. "What are you getting at, Kimmie?"

That was it. The question. Kim wrung her hands, took several calming breaths, and spoke.

"Never mind."

She mentally groaned.

Shego, however, exhaled, slumped back on the couch and rested her head against the back rest. She stared at an area a bit over Kim head. "Just say it."

Kim stared at her, but Shego didn't meet her eyes. Kim took another deep breath. "I mean, did you develop feelings for me then?"

Then Kim's heart began to thunder in her chest and her body, despite the cool air, broke out into a cold sweat. She couldn't believe what had just come out of her mouth, and each second of silence seemed infinitely longer than the last. She even forgot to breathe for a moment, then had to consciously draw air in and out to keep from passing out.

Shego crewed her lip. She seemed somewhere between tears, angry, and terrified. Her mouth opened, verging on forming a sound, then closing and switching to a different shape, but never actually speaking.

"Longer," Shego said, finally deciding on an L sound. It came as barely more than a whisper. "Maybe. That was when… I realized — " She sucked in a breath. "Listen… I know you're not — I mean, you — ugh! This is _so _not happening right now!" She ignited her hands and clawed out the back of the couch, leaving behind smoking stuffing, a singed cover, and the smell of burning cotton.

Kim sat, tense. She waited for Shego to storm off, but the moment never came. Then she wanted to tuck her knees up to her chest and hug them, but couldn't in the robe. Instead, she wrapped one arm around herself to serve as a rest for her other elbows and massaged her shoulder.

"Thanks for getting Rufus out of there when you escaped the first time," Kim said. "I'm sure Ron was rather grateful to you afterward."

Shego scoffed. "Meddling idiot," she said. "That moron showed up at the school more than once, looking for you. I singed him pretty good the last time. I suppose he was the one who told you where to find me?"

"He… gave me a ride. And a note saying… to go to China."

"Idiot," Shego said again. "He didn't give you any direction whatsoever? What kind of moron does that?"

Kim groaned. "Well, actually, it said… it said, 'she's in China.'"

Shego finally looked back at Kim, who was now decidedly avoiding Shego's eyes.

"You came knowing I was here?" There was an edge in Shego's voice. "_Why_?"

Kim throat suddenly felt very stuffy. She swallowed. She glanced at Shego, but only met her eyes for a moment before she looked at the table between them.

"I don't know," she said.

"Tsh. Oh, that's believable," Shego said. "'_Look at me! I'm Kim Possible and I_'," her voice dropped. "don't know what I'm doing! I should have known this would happen. Ugh! I'm such an idiot!" She growled and lobbed plasma at an empty couch. A smoking hole appeared through the backrest.

Kim tense and waited, once again, for Shego to storm off, but… it didn't happen.

Kim's brow furrowed. "You should have known what would happen?"

"This!" She spread her arms over the terrace. "You! Just — got caught up in — the club was a bad idea. That's all."

Kim looked Shego out of the corner of her eye. "Are you saying… did you, you know, regret —"

"No!" Shego said, cutting her off. Then she looked chagrined. "Yes."

Kim's heart plunged into her stomach and tried to murder itself.

"I mean — ugh! _What_ am I _doing_?!" She put her hands into her hair, covering her eyes with her palms, and pulled shocks of hair down between her fingers. Then she opened her hands like doors, framing her face, and looked at Kim. "I regret using you."

Kim heart apparently felt hesitant about it's impending suicide and eased it's painful throbbing. "You… you thought you were using me?"

Shego covered her eyes again, dragged her hands down her face until they were covering her lips, and fixed Kim in her sights. Finally, her hands lowered. "You're not exactly right in the head right now, Princess. I shouldn't have reacted the way I did." She spoke the last part almost through gritted teeth.

Kim's mind whirled. "Are you — are you saying that… you _wanted_ to… do that… with _me_?"

Shego looked utterly bewildered. "What — doy!" Then her hands flew to her eyes again. "I cannot _believe_ I just said that. Oh no, no, no, no, no." Her hands flew out again, flashed green, and one of the elegant wooden chairs sitting nearby was reduced to four sticks of wood standing straight up. Oddly, however, Shego didn't look angry. She looked…

Kim marveled. "I've never seen you look so scared before."

Shego belatedly scowled. "Say that again and you're going to be the next chair."

A nervous smile crossed Kim's features. "Shego… I…" Her heart was now thundering again against her rib cage. "I _liked_ what we did… a lot."

Shego actually _laughed_. It came out more like a bark than Shego's usual high pitched giggle.

Kim fumed. "Don't _laugh_."

"I'm sorry," Shego said with a face that didn't say she was sorry at all, "but you expect me to believe you, _Kim Possible_, teen hero, yadda yadda… actually _liked_ having sex with _me_?"

Kim's brow wrinkled, her lip jut out, and her shoulder's tensed. "What's so unbelievable about that?" she said, a little anger slipping into her voice. A moment's more tension, then her shoulders slumped, and she sighed. "Shego… my heart was racing the entire time. I couldn't… I couldn't see _anything_ but you. We laughed; I never expected to laugh. And… maybe it wasn't what I expected, but… after experiencing that… I don't think I want it to be."

Shego eyed her suspiciously. Kim stared her down.

"You're telling the truth," Shego said, "aren't you?"

"Doy," Kim said. She actually grinned a little. Her heart had stopped trying to break out of it's prison, but Kim still felt every beat.

They sat, staring each other down, each uncertain what to do with the other, until Kim finally spoke again. "Is this what you've been trying to do this entire time? Get me in bed?" Her cheeks flushed even as she said it.

"Not… exactly?" Shego said, her own face flushing gray, then red.

"Why did you come on so… so strongly?" Kim said.

"I'm a thief, remember? So…" She gestured out to the side.

Kim thought about this. Then, "you tried to steal me from Ron?!"

"Well, it worked, didn't it?" Shego said defensively.

"You didn't steal anything!" Kim said.

Shego gave her a smug smile. "Last night's episode says differently."

Kim threw a throw pillow at her. It's splattered wetly against Shego's hand.

"Princess!"

"Sorry," Kim said. "Forgot it was wet."

"Don't give me that!" Shego said. "This thing weighs like ten pounds!"

Kim shrugged, but couldn't hide a smirk. "Guess you're just getting weaker."

Ten pounds of pillow slammed into her stomach. Kim coughed. "I was kidding!"

"Uh-huh," Shego said. "At least it had a nice effect." Shego pointed; Kim looked down.

Kim's entire front was soaked; water had sopped up her front, and the thin silk material had turned translucent. She covered her chest. "Shego!"

Shego raised her hands. "Hey, you threw it at me first." She grinned at Kim, then stood up. "Come on, Cupcake, let's get you inside."

* * *

_**A/N**__: Sooo. That happened._

_I put a __**ridiculous**_ _amount of effort into this chapter. Both to stay within FFNet's M guidelines, and to get the right feel for the dialog._

_Edited this while sick, so there might be more errors than usual. I'll come back and do another pass later, but I didn't want to delay an update for you guys. :)_


	14. To a Most Dangerous Sea

**Chapter 14 - To a Most Dangerous Sea**

...

Shego had asked Kim out to lunch which Kim had only accepted after several moments of being flustered with the idea. However, being both hungry and tense had made for a quiet meal and left soon after finishing for a quiet - and still tense - walk through one of Beijing's parks.

About 20 people were arranged along a grassy flat area of the part, going through movements of Tai Chi. Kim and Shego passed them, still on the sidewalk, without uttering a word to each other. In fact, they hadn't spoken since leaving Kwong's.

"I'm..." Kim said, "not exactly used to this sort of thing."

Shego frowned and pulled Kim to the side while a couple children sped by on bicycles. "What, the buffoon never took you out?"

Kim rubbed her arm. "Let's not talk about it."

"No arguments here." They walked on. "So... where have you been? I haven't seen you since I dropped you off at that Spanish hospital."

"Portuguese, actually," Kim said, "_Centro Hospitalar do Barlavento Algarvio. _Stayed just long enough to say it." She huffed. "I recovered a few hours after you left and checked myself out. I've been trying to find all the people I fixed with a mind control chips, but most already had them removed after you rescued me. Along the way, I tried to find every scientist who could have anything to do with the Attitudinator and convinced them them that they should never attempt that research again. It was a small list and easy to get since Bortel was the lead."

Shego gave a low whistle. "That's still a lot of to do in just two months. How did you convince the scientists?"

A wry smile crossed Kim's lips. "I told them the truth: the Attitudinator directly caused me to take over the world. They all dropped and destroyed the related research without question after that. So nice of unethical scientists to not publish their work." Kim chewed her lower lip before speaking again. "Thank you for rescuing me. I don't... I don't want to know what I would have done if you hadn't."

Shego waved dismissively. "You already thanked me plenty of times. ... though if you _really_ want to make it up to me, I might still have some bruises you can kiss and make better."

Kim flushed and decided to deflect. "You really didn't have to take me out."

"If I didn't," Shego said, "I'm not even sure you'd get any food in your stomach; and you really need to get on a better diet, because you taste like ash. What have you been eating out of? Dumpsters?"

Kim flushed an even brighter red and looked down at her moving feet. Then she nodded.

Shego's finger tapped her side. "Look," Shego said, "Kim -"

Kim held up a hand, still looking down at her feet. "Did you just... use my name?" Kim said. For some reason, she still couldn't bring herself to look at Shego.

"What's wrong with that?" Shego said.

"I dunno," Kim said. "Nothing. I just got used to the nicknames, I guess."

"... whatever you say, Cupcake."

Kim finally raised her gaze to Shego and covered her chest defensively. "That one you can drop."

"What's wrong with cupcakes?" Shego said turning towards Kim with open palms. "It's fun to lick icing off the top."

"Can we not do the teasing thing right now?"

Shego held her hands up with a sly smiled... which faded into something more serious. "Look. I'm not... the best at, you know, _talking_ about things, but... I know what it's like to have that Attitudinator -"

"- Reverse Polarizer -"

"- whatever. Just... whatever." Shego didn't seem to want to finish and instead, walked a little ahead of Kim.

For a long time, Kim was quiet. She watched entire groups of children run by. They came to a rode, and instead of leaving, they turned back to the park.. Finally, she tried to look up but instead, looked to the side. "... I don't know if it even affected _Ron_ as much."

"Your boyfriend is weird," Shego said.

Kim snapped back towards Shego. "He's not my boyfriend. Not... anymore."

"Cha well, that remains to be seen," Shego said.

"And what's that supposed to mean?" Kim said.

Shego shook her head and waved Kim off.

Kim chewed her lip. "Do you know what they're calling me now?"

"Screw 'they'," Shego said.

"'Dead Eye Kim'. Everywhere I went, I got frightened people running away from me as soon as they recognized me."

"You _did_ look kind of like death," Shego said. "I still say screw 'em."

Kim shook her head. "You know I can't do that. I just don't know what to do now. I just wanted to go to college. Have a life. A normal life."

"Is this about -"

"It's not about being... you know..."

"The word's gay, Kimmie," Shego said. "It's not exactly a taboo thing to say."

Kim nodded hesitantly.

Shego looked to her expectantly.

Kim ignored her.

Shego raised her eyebrows another millimeter.

Kim rolled her eyes. "Fine," Kim said. "I'm..."

Another millimeter.

"Guh! Gay! Happy?!"

Shego actually did a little hop in answer. "Doesn't matter to me. You're the lesbian here."

"So are you!"

"Did I say that?" Shego said with pseudo-confusion. She put a finger to her lips. "Hm. I can't seem to recall."

1Kim opened her mouth again, but Shego held up a finger. "Ah-ah, remember you're not in a lair, Kimmie, and you've already been pretty loud." She jerked her thumb outward and Kim followed it. A few tables of people were starting at Kim with varying degrees of haughtiness and anger.

Kim felt her face burning yet again and tried to position herself behind Shego, slouching. "Do you want to want to have a serious conversation or not?!" Kim murmured under her breath.

"Oh come on, Kimmie," Shego said. "Did you really just asked me that?"

Kim grumbled and slouched more.

Shego giggled; Kim hated how it made her less angry.

"Tell you what, Kimmie," Shego said, "I'll be good if you tell me what you've been doing for the last three months."

The last _three_ months, not two, then. "I'll tell you if you tell me about your past too," Kim said.

Kim smirked a little. Then Shego nodded, and her smirk vanished.

Kim tucked her hair behind her ear. "Alright. I guess... should start with after your escape? Don't you know what happened?"

"Kind of," Shego said. "I was actually with Wei Ding most of the time."

"You were training?" Kim said. "I thought I noticed you were being more cautious during our fight."

Shego nodded. "Battle suit or not, I could still be knocked out with a well placed punch. Wei Ding and I went over a lot of different styles you know to give me an idea how to fight you. Turns out I didn't need much, but... I wanted to be sure I could win."

"You're admitting you might have lost?"

Shego huffed.

"And why was it so important for you to... defeat me?" Kim said. "Don't supervillains _want_ the world to be taken over?"

"Cha, but we want to be the ones _in charge_, Princess," Shego said. "Can't just go and let you take my job."

It was Kim's turn to huff. "Like you'd ever be able to take over the world; you're far too lazy."

"You know, if you weren't around," Shego said, "I think I'd just take over the world out of sheer boredom."

"I still say you'd never be able to do it," Kim said.

"Maybe I should take that as a challenge, Kimmie."

"Shutting up now."

A breeze blew by. Kim lost track of how much time passed, but there seemed to be an agreement of silence for a time.

"Let's start at the very beginning," Shego finally said as they picked there way through a sloping bank of the park. "Why did you rescue me?"

"... I don't know," Kim said. There were some kind flowers that floated through the air. It made her nose itch. "I just... couldn't let you die."

"You know they execute criminals sometimes, right?" Shego said. "Not that I'm complaining, mind you."

Kim gave a subtle nod while she stared straight ahead, then swallowed. "I know. I just... don't know if it's wrong or not. When I was evil, I saved people for selfish reasons. But taking away someone's life... I don't know."

"Oh come on," Shego said. "You're practically do-gooder of the year and you don't know if taking someone's _life_ is wrong?"

Kim shook her head. "Taking a life out of anger or vengeance is wrong, yeah, of course... but I don't know how I feel about... capital punishment."

They walked for a time. Kim could feel Shego's eyes on her, but she didn't turn to face her.

"Then, _why_?" Shego said.

Kim sighed. "It just seemed weird. It was like the entire thing was setup just for me. It felt... forced. In hindsight, Warmonga's mind control was pretty obvious."

"So if it didn't seem like something was off," Shego said, "would you have let it happen? Let them execute me?"

Kim thought about it. It wrenched her to consider just letting Shego die, but... "I..." She glanced to the side, towards Shego beside her. "No. I don't know what I would have done differently. Maybe nothing, but... I wouldn't just let you die."

"That's easy to say now," Shego said. "But you knew nothing but antagonism from me before, Cupcake. Why would you rescue me?"

"I told you," Kim said. "I'm honestly beginning to wonder if you just like me to repeat myself; we became _friends_ when you were good. Yeah, you were good, but it was still you."

They reached a decent sized pond surrounded by a grassy bank and picnic tables. On the closest one was a small bag of tiny sliced grapes. Kim picked it up and began flicking the few left towards the ducks crowded near the water's edge.

"That's enough for you," Shego said, "is it?"

"Yeah," Kim said, "it is."

They watched the dunks huddle around the last of the grapes.

"You know that's still kind of evil, right?" Shego said.

"What?" Kim turned towards her. "No it's not! I'd be saving a life! I _did_ save a life!"

"What was it you said?" Shego tapped her chin. "'I saved people for _selfish_ reasons.'"

Kim dusted her hands off, hopped off the picnic table, and started walking along the sidewalk again.

"Should you really be out like this?" Kim spread her arms to indicate the park. "Aren't you afraid of being recognized? You _are_ green, you know."

"Says one of the most hated women in the world right now," Shego said. At Kim's flinch, her expression softened. "Most people don't really see the green skin, actually; they just assume I'm ridiculously pale. It's not _that_ bad. Big hit in Japan, though; I have a pretty big fan club."

"_You_ have a fan club in Japan?" Kim said. "You tried to kidnap Mr. Nagasaki! He's practically a national hero!"

Shego just shrugged.

For a long time, neither of them said anything. They walked, enjoyed the company of the birds, the falling of the leafs... even each other.

"Shego," Kim said after a time, "what are we going to do?"

They walked a little further, until they stopped at the place where they came in. Neither looked at the other, and Kim couldn't bring herself to move.

Then she felt her hand be taken by Shego's.

It was enough.

_**A/N:**_

_Oh, hey there. Glad to see you. Where have I been? Uuhhhh... Atlantis?_

_1, Dear sweet gods, all your reviews have encouraged me so much. I thank you all for each one from the bottom of my heart._

_2, I won the award for best romance of 2014? I... well! Alright! Thank you all so much for who thought my story deserved to win. Truly and really. However, I have a confession to make._

_3, SFaSS is my half-assed attempt at a Kigo fanfic. Indeed, it's my half-assed first attempt at fanfic in general. It was rushed, it was chaotic, and it wasn't my best writing. According to my girlfriend, it's gods awful compared to my regular writing, and I have to agree. Originally, I had intended to take it semi-seriously and write a very slow progression of Kigo, but I dropped the ball when I realized what fun I could have if I experimented. I used each chapter to try something new and went completely off the walls with it, whatever came into my mind to write. I tried everything I could think of and learned a lot. More than that, however, I learned to respect fanfiction as a medium._

_4, A girlfriend happened. We've been together since I stopped writing SFaSS. You can do the math. :) However, before you completely rage at her, which she doesn't deserve at all because the fault is mine, she's also part of the reason I write and we both love Kigo so much, she's a large part of the reason I'm writing More Light, More Dark. She's the love of my life, and I'm better for her. I hope you can excuse my year long hiatus after I found the person with whom my soul can dance._

_That's it for me on SFaSS. Thank you all so much for following me this far and I hope I'll see you over on my next story! Bye for now, lovelies!_


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